The Uses of Adversity
by DerbyGigs
Summary: Disatisfied with country life, Naruto Uzumaki seeks adventure by moving to the capital of Konohagakure. Things soon become dramatically complicated when he finds himself unwillingly acquainted with one Sasuke Uchiha.  SasuNaru
1. Liars and Cheats

**Chapter 1:  
><strong>Liars and Cheats**_  
><em>**

_"I chose and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken; the choosing was not. You have to move on."  
><em>~ Stephen Sondheim

* * *

><p>Shaky with a mix of apprehension and eagerness, Naruto went up to the front door, which was coloured with faded red paint, and gently knocked twice.<p>

...

There was no answer.

Naruto listened carefully but he heard no sounds of the stirring. It hadn't occurred to him that nobody would be home. Perhaps he had been too quick to assume that they had household staff? Naruto backed up on the short dirt path and looked up at the closed windows of the house, unsure of what to do.

"What do you want?"

"_Ack!_" Naruto gapsed in surprise, and turned around to see a short, strict-looking woman with her hair in a frayed bun, peering out of an second storey window. "I mean... yes. My name is Naruto Uzumaki."

"_Who_?" The woman asked loudly, looking annoyed.

Naruto had an aggravated reply on his lips in seconds, but in an attempt to be diplomatic he swallowed it with uncharacteristic restraint. "I wrote to a Mr. Mizuki last week about staying here."

"I see," she replied, her expression relaxing but still not entirely friendly. "You're the boy from Whirlpool country."

Naruto felt a little encouraged by this familiar connection.

"Fine, come in then." The woman, who Naruto guessed was a member of the household staff, started to shuffle back into the house before adding, "You don't need help with that bag, do you?" She eyed him in a way that clearly warned her not accept the offer. "Your room is here next to the bathroom," she said gruffly, nodding her head in the direction of a small door across from a narrow staircase. "If you need anything, help yourself quietly and don't bother me or my staff, do you understand?"

Naruto nodded with a smile, which hid the sinking feeling of regret that he felt in his stomach. His room smelled musty and the floor was covered in the sticky residue of something that Naruto didn't care to identify. The bed was dusty, and he saw some small black insect scurry away when he prodded it.

"This isn't _so_ bad..." Naruto whispered to himself, opting to grin widely. The grin slid immediately off of his face as he surveyed the mouldy room once more. He tried again. It was hard to maintain this happy expression, but he would manage it.

Somehow.

* * *

><p><em>"I've already spoken with the Inuzukas," Nagato had announced, "They have invited you to live with their family, for which you should be extremely grateful. I offered them an extra sum of money, but they wouldn't accept it. I'm told their daughter is married and no longer living at home, so they would be more than pleased to receive you and your aunt."<em>

_Naruto looked away. He didn't like this conversation at all._

__Nagato squeezed Naruto's neck, gently kneading._ "Remember that I'll always be proud of you Naruto, for as long as you are you. Just be true to yourself, as you've always been."_

_The warm hand left a vague ache when it dropped from Naruto's neck to pat his back affectionately. It made his throat tight. "Uncle Nagato..."_

_His uncle's eyes were moist with worry and it made Naruto all the more uncomfortable. "Yes, Naruto?"_

_"… thanks." It was distressingly hard to even say the word, but he felt he owed it to the other man, for trying._

_Nagato's answering smile was brighter than anything Naruto could imagine and it filled some of the empty spaces within him with a tentative hint of warmth._

_"Anytime."_

_But as much as he appreciayed these comfortable living arrangements, Naruto was sixteen, almost seventeen now, and desired something far beyond living a quiet life in the village. Indeed, his mind was set on something very different..._

* * *

><p>The bazaar was crowded with people that afternoon. Experience made Naruto wary of those that came too close to him, but besides the lack of personal space and the number of shameless pickpockets, he liked the general atmosphere of the capital's marketplace.<p>

Halfway back to the Mizuki's inn, Naruto bumped into someone and clumsily dropped all of his things. The someone stooped to help him and piled them all into his fishing net, which he could use as a makeshift bag. Naruto, amused by his efficiency and grateful for the small kindness, was about to treat him to a coin or two. It was only when he peered into his pouch that he realised half of the money had disappeared.

_A pick pocket! _"Son of a _bitch_!"

The bandit bolted.

Naruto instinctively attempted to pursue him but bashed his head against a plank of scaffolding in his haste. Bright green spots hurled in his eyes and a knot formed in his head that began to throb furiously. Stating a very lively word would make a sailor wince, Naruto trailed quickly after the thief. Darting left and right, past stall after stall, he chased the thieving brat relentlessly. However, after several minutes Naruto was forced to conclude that he'd lost him, leaving him to fume heavily with mounting rage.

It wasn't long before Naruto realised that he had gotten himself quite lost. The enclave's magnificent view of the ocean and the multi-coloured sunset reminded him of home. Naruto closed his eyes and breathed in the salty ocean air deeply. When he lazily opened his eyes after a few moments, he felt the same kind of peace that he did back in Whirlpool country. Seized by some unexplainable impulse, Naruto suddenly burst into a fit of childish laughter.

Just as he did that, something moved from behind.

Naruto turned around slowly, curious (and most definitely _not_ afraid) of what he might see.

A young man approached with a surly look on his face. The fellow youth was carelessly dressed in countrymen's clothing but it could not obscure his reticent confidence, nor the striking elegance with which he moved. He looked about Naruto's age, and was likely taller than he; ebony hair that was a touch too long, a whisper too wild perhaps, fell slightly over the darkest eyes Naruto had ever seen and contrasted directly with faultless, ivory pale skin. It took a moment for Naruto to realise that he was staring quite openly, and he turned away quickly, training his gaze on the grass.

"Is there a reason your eyes are so earnestly searching the soil?" A low, sharp timbre settled languidly in the empty air without invitation.

Naruto blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Might your interest be located there? Or is it my horrendous features that offend you so?" The boy elaborated further in a very uninterested voice.

It suddenly occurred to Naruto that the other was mocking him, that he had probably seen him laughing like an idiot. When Naruto thought about how that might have explained the strange look he was being given, he involuntarily grew self-conscious, embarrassed and highly defensive.

"I don't believe that is any of your business." Naruto snapped, feeling his face scrunch up into a nasty scowl.

One dark, unimpressed ebony brow lifted opposite him, and Naruto instinctively knew that this was as close to a surprised expression as the boy was capable. Truthfully, Naruto wasn't quite sure why he was acting so rude either, though it might have had something to do with the supreme arrogance radiating from brunet, the sound of his aggravatingly self-assured voice.

"An astute observation. Truly worthy of you, dobe."

Naruto couldn't stop his jaw from dropping ungracefully, feeling the blood rush to his face he felt his ego and pride crash horribly to the ground. _Dobe? DOBE?_ Just who the hell did this boy think he was? Naruto may not have been in the top 30 (okay, maybe 50) of his class back home, but he was definitely not _dead last_.

"Hey, listen here asshole_______—_______!"

"Asshole?" The bastard turned his black, mocking eyes back to Naruto. "You have a very limited vocabulary, _do-be._" He said, emphasising his last word and purposely drawing out each syllable. The dark-haired boy shook his head condescendingly at him _______— _______and that dug deeper than anything. Dug deep and rooted in his head until the indignant _Dobe__?_ spewed forth and Naruto growled, feeling a rush of anger sweep through his veins.

With all his built-up might Naruto howled at the receding black figure:

"Bastard! Stuck-up arrogant prick! Who the _hell_ do you think you are?"

Still wearing that supercilious smirk, the arrogant bastard simply walked away into the nearest alleyway and vanished from sight without another word.

* * *

><p><em>"Did you know that Shinobi have been reported seen around Konohagakure?" Konan had murmured that morning.<em>

_Naruto brushed the comment off with a snort. Ever since he had made his plans of leaving public his aunt had relentlessly tried to discourage him.  
><em>

_"A letter from Konohagakure for you, Naruto." The housemaid announced and handed him a thick, official-looking envelope. Naruto thanked her and opened the letter with interest. When he saw the signature, however, he scowled. Konan looked up and asked who it was from. Naruto read it aloud without any shortage of sarcasm:_

_"Dear Mr. Uzumaki,_

_I first offer my condolences for your recently deceased uncle, a report that unfortunately did not reach us until well after the funeral. The news was recieved with much sorrow. As you are aware, he was my mother's brother and an honourable man. I am deeply sorry for your loss._

_I also write to discuss another report of a more pleasant nature that has reached me: that you intend to journey and settle down in Konohakagure. I realise that we have never spoken in person and would very much like the chance to meet you. I invite you to stay in my home for at least your first night in the city until you have found a suitable place to live of your own. I also offer my long-distance carriage services to you, for your travelling convenience, if you should wish it. Until then I wish you the best._

_Sincerely,_

_Kakashi Hatake."_

_"Why, your Lord cousin sounds like a perfect gentleman!" The housemaid said enthusiastically. "Will you accept his offers, Naruto?"_

_"Not a chance." Naruto replied disdainfully, "Manners and false promises are the least someone of his status could do. Isn't it enough that he's inherited our home? Must he pester us needlessly as well? I want nothing to do with him!"_

_"His status is hereditary, Naruto," Konan said calmly. "He has little choice in the matter. You may not want to hold that against him."_

_"And why shouldn't I?" Naruto snapped irritably. "His status **is** hereditary, so he's been blessed with a fortunate life that he hasn't earned it at all!"_

_"So have you." Konan said warningly. "Nagato gave you the freedom to do whatever you wish with your life, and very few who exist who can say the same. What have you done to earn this special treatment?"_

_Naruto fell silent._

_When a doctor had informed Nagato Uzumaki he was suffering from a fatal illness with no known cure, he had calmly accepted his fate. Knowing that without a son to ensure the well-being of his estate his family would be at the mercy of his despicable brother-in-law, Sakumo Hatake, Nagato had devised a plan. A quarter of his savings were given to relatives, and the rest evenly divided between his wife and his nephew. This was enough for each of them to live on their own in relative comfort. _

_"Don't misunderstand me, Naruto," his aunt continued, "I do not defend his father who has long ago proven himself a disgraceful man. I am merely warning you not to be prejudiced against a man who has done nothing wrong yet, and who deserves the benefit of the doubt as much as anyone else."_

_"Fine," Naruto conceded, annoyed. "But I still won't accept his offers." Konan was right, as always, but that didn't mean he had to like it._

* * *

><p>It was getting quite dark by the time Naruto decided he was hopelessly lost enough to ask for directions. He looked around for a building with the lights on, spotting an old brick building with the upstairs windows boarded up; a sign hung above the door read:<p>

_'FOR SALE!'_

Naruto opened the heavy wooden door.

"Ho outlander. How may I be of assistance?" A short, elderly man greeted from behind the desk lit by two solitary candles.

"I'm in need of directions, if you will." Naruto scanned the room briefly. The floor was dusty and showed the footprints of the few places visited by people. Cobwebs were all over the window sill as well as the small chandelier that hung by the staircase across from him. "Would you tell me how to find the Uzunomichi Bridge? I know how to find my way home from there."

The old man's sudden, toothy grin reminded Naruto so much of the pint-sized thief that it immediately put him on guard. "Certainly," he produced a small map of the streets leading to the bridge. Eyeing the blond intently, he added: "Is that all I can do for you?"

Naruto had every intention of leaving as soon as possible but he recalled the sign by the window and had another idea. "Actually there is something... What exactly is this building for?"

"It used to be a popular tavern," the old man recollected wistfully, "But I'm afraid it's been neglected for many years and now the landowner wishes to have nothing more to do with it."

"I see..." Naruto murmured. "I'm sorry to hear that. Just how much is he selling this land for?"

The old man's expression suddenly soured and he regarded Naruto with a high degree of suspicion. "That kind of information is nobody's business except those who wish to buy it."

"What if _I_ was interested in buying this place?" he said, flashing his most charming smile.

"I'll be _damned_ before I see some backward country_ fool_ own aged and reputable properties like this! Now get out before I get _really_ angry! Out! _Out I said_!"

Naruto took this suggestion eagerly and ran out the door as the crazy old man continued to swear loudly. When he finally stopped to catch his breath he pulled at his coarse, flaxen locks in frustration. Everywhere he went, it seemed, he met nothing but contempt and unkindness. Was this yet another sign that he'd made the wrong decision in leaving home?

Thoroughly demoralised, Naruto made his way back to the miserable home of the Mizukis with a deep sigh, only to find that he'd been locked out. They probably didn't realise that he'd been out, the blond reasoned. He walked around the house to where his room was – hoping his window was unlocked for him to crawl through, when he heard two voices coming from within it.

"_…was a poor investment if there ever was one!_" A rough, male voice said followed by the sounds of ripping fabric.

"_Don't go blaming me for your lack of judgement_," A female voice that was unmistakably Mrs. Mizuki said; "_How was I to know that the stupid country boy had no valuables?_"

"_You were the one who said that High Lord Sakumo was cheated out of the inheritance money by Nagato Uzumaki, woman!_"

"_He's still in the good graces of House Hatake_. _Lord Kakashi himself has been writing to the lad - look, look," _the sound of paper rustling.

"_What good comes from harbouring a kid crazy enough to live alone in this city and refuse the services of a rich relative? You talk as if you know everything, so do answer that for me!_"

"_He isn't aware of the aid offered to him by the High Lord's son - I've been intercepting the letters! I say we exploit our connection to him… say he vandalised our home or stole some valuables, and demand some compensation!_"

Mr. Mizuki fell silent and Naruto didn't dare to show his face through the window to see his expression. Eventually, the sound of their heavy footsteps moved out of the room and the bedroom door was slammed shut. Naruto sat still for a few moments in case someone was still in the room. Then, slowly, he raised himself from the crouching position he was in and peered through the window.

_All clear._

Naruto knew that he couldn't stay in this house for another instant. He carefully pushed the window open and crawled inside. He noiselessly wrapped all of his belongings in the fishnet hammock as the thief had done and then took off in a desperate run. He stepped into the first decent-looking inn he could find, roused the man dozing behind the front desk, and paid for a room.

For the rest of the night, Naruto lay awake on his bed, thinking about how little he'd understood when his aunt said that he was fortunate. Naruto felt ashamed at how much he took his sheltered life for granted. He buried his face into the soft, clean pillow and let himself be relieved at how it was such a far cry from the other room.

All night he tossed and turned, so seriously disturbed at how terrible life in Konohakagure could be; that Konoha's outer image as a thriving modern city was as deceiving as Kakashi Hatake's attempt to forge a friendship with him. At any moment, he thought he might cry. This was to be his life now; Naruto had desired change and he had been given it, but now all he wanted was to go back home. He was no longer concerned with appearing strong and masculine. He simply wanted to release the backing well that was mounting inside his chest.

_(. . . be true to yourself . . .)_

_(. . . as you've always been . . .)_

Nagato's steady brown eyes were a hot, heavy reminder at the back of his mind. He was shaky and terrified at the prospect of life alone in Konohakagure, but Naruto felt that old and familiar strength rekindle inside of him, still feeling that, despite the factual evidence, there was _hope_ yet. He needed to deal with these new conflicts and learn how to survive, because Naruto was _determined_ to believe that there was more to life than this cruelty.

___You know what, Uncle Nagato? I **won't** give up, because that would mean giving up on myself and _I won't give up on either of us. __I can't. __I never will.__

_I promise._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It's a little odd setting for a Naruto plot, true, but it'll gravitate towards more Naruto-esque lines later. ****Well, I'd love to hear from you guys as to what you think. **

**Right.**

**Well.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Kind and Stupid

**Chapter 2:**  
>Kind and Stupid<p>

_"If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces."_  
>~ Portia<strong>,<strong> Act i Scene ii, Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare)

* * *

><p>For the second time, Naruto pushed open the heavy wooden door of the Matsuri Inn. It felt much heavier than last time, perhaps because of his unwillingness to face that crabby old man once more - he certainly seemed to have an extraordinary misfortune when it came to the adults of Konoha. With a small sigh, he entered the old brick building.<p>

A young man with brown hair stood behind the receptionist counter. He was smartly dressed and would've been handsome, had it not been for the jagged scar that cut through his face. He smiled pleasantly at Naruto as he approached. The blond blinked a few times, hoping he wasn't mistaken, but it had to be true: the old man was _gone_.

Feeling considerably more confident, Naruto held out his hand and introduced himself.

"Very good, Mr. Uzumaki," The man replied, taking his hand, "My name is Iruka Umino. I am the intermediary between you and the former landlord. If you don't mind my asking, do you have family up north in the country? Your name is like mine – not one of these parts, I assume?"

"You know Whirlpool?" Naruto questioned enthusiastically, "My family used to live there before my uncle passed away. I was the only child coming of age, but since I'm of illegitimate heritage, I was... unable to inherit. The land has gone to a cousin on my mother's side."

Iruka clicked his tongue in sympathy and agreed that the tradition was quite ridiculous. The fact that knowledge of one's family lineage held such weight in the world was a backward and chauvinistic notion; it was ludicrous that those that did not know their immediate ancestors were so cruelly discriminated against. Naruto swelled inwardly with approval.

"My grandparents come from up north, in the farming provinces like yourself." Iruka explained, "My father moved to Konohagakure where he wed my mother, but we visit the country often. In any case, here you are in the capital with an entire inn to yourself," he said admiringly. "I wish you the best. It's not an easy business."

Iruka gave a short bow and left. As the heavy door thudded to a close, Naruto felt pleased with how amiable he was. It was such a relief after encountering much bitterness and contempt.

Naruto pulled out a large brown notebook containing a list of errands that needed to be done. Still, something else was on his mind. Naruto recalled what Mr. and Mrs. Mizuki had said about exploiting his connection with Kakashi Hatake. At first he didn't bother to worry, as the Hatake family likely deserved it, but his conscience was still uneasy. Naruto decided that it was not up to him to punish others for their deeds, and would not willingly wrong another person lest he become corrupt.

**...**

_Dear Mr. Hatake,_

_Thank you for your letters. I apologise deeply for my lack of response to the first. I must confess that I assumed your letter a mere courtesy and that your intentions of meeting with me were insincere. Perhaps I was mistaken. I hope you are not offended by my honesty, and understand it as a sign of respect._

_The reason I write to you is to warn you that the people that I originally intended to stay with, Mr. and Mrs. Mizuki, may attempt to exploit my connection to your family. I bore witness to a speech made by Mr. Mizuki in which he expressed an intention to falsely accuse me of misconduct within their home so that they might be monetarily compensated. I sincerely advise you, as I have advised my aunt, to take the necessary precautions to avoid involvement in this._

_As for the matter of your invitation, I am afraid I must decline it for the present, for I intend to reopen the Matsuri inn, a very time-consuming activity. I am, however, very grateful for your offers and wish you the best._

_Sincerely,_

_Naruto Uzumaki._

There was a loud knock on the front door, making Naruto drop his quill in surprise. From outside, the stranger declared himself as the locksmith that had been requested for.

_Oh right, I completely forgot!_

He hastened to unbolt the heavy front door. As he did so, Naruto caught a glimpse of a disregarded brown hair through the tiny window near the door hinges. When the door swung open at least, Naruto was struck with the shock of recognition.

"How can I be of service to you today, sir?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed as shock rapidly turned into fury. An interesting likeness was this boy to the thief that tried to steal from him on his first day in Konoha. It was all there – the unkempt shock of brown hair, the crooked, chipped teeth. He was short for his early teens, but prior experience had shown Naruto that he had endurance belaying his appearance and could easily outrun him. Unless…

"Thank you for coming," Naruto said politely. "Come in."

He opened the door wide to let the brunet in. The boy had just barely shuffled in before Naruto slammed the door violently in his face, knocking it right against his skull. The blond reopened the door to see the thief dazed, but still conscious. He knelt forwards, quickly seizing the brunet's long, tattered scarf and clenched his fist, ready to bring it crashing down upon his head.

"Wait! Please don't hurt me!" The thief cried, waving his arms about frantically. "I'm just a harmless kid! Have some mercy!"

"You're the dirty little thief who robbed me three weeks ago!" Naruto cried.

"Didn't you get your money back that time? Didn't I spare your wallet out of the goodness of my heart?"

"You clumsily dropped my money, you mean! You still tried to steal from me, you grimy little –"

"Alright! Alright! I stole from you and I'm very sorry!" The brunet garbled. His eyes were fixed on Naruto's fist which still hovered precariously in the air, as though contemplating whether or not to break the his nose. "Please just- we can _talk_ about this civilly!"

"I should report you to the Palace Guards!" Naruto snapped at once.

"No, no, no! Wait! Please!" The thief cried, sounding genuinely panicked. "Let's make a deal! I can help you with anything you want! I'll install your new locks free of charge!"

"As if I would trust _you_ with my household security!" Naruto shouted incredulously.

"That's _exactly_ why I would be perfect! I know all the essential measures needed for robbery prevention!"

"GET OUT!"

It took an encouraging shove or two before the thief finally departed. He stumbled away into the streets looking like a wreck - his hollow cheeks and sunken, dark eyes were now accompanied by a large, red swelling on his forehead. Biting his lip, Naruto fought hard to suppress the surge of sympathy that threatened to surpass his anger.

_(Nagato gave you the freedom to do whatever you wish with your life, and very few who exist who can say the same)_

Shaking himself of the thought, Naruto shut the door and re-fastened the bolt, but his aunt's resonating words left an impression. He dearly wished he could blame the petty thief for all of his troubles, it would be so _easy_ and yet he knew he ought to keep some perspective.

"Oh, there's no helping it..." he murmured irritably. Packing a small basket, he left the inn.

He tried returning to the place where he had requested a locksmith. The confused worker informed him that no one of the thief's description was currently employed in his shop.

"However, I _have_ heard of a thief under that description," The workman said uncertainly, "You should be careful. Someone like that might mean to deceive you."

Naruto silently believed he was right.

The blond continued wandering through the areas of public gathering that he knew, hoping to run into the thief. It was in a small street of produce vendors that he spotted his prey at last. With very few people around, the young thief distinctly stood out. Unfortunately, Naruto also recognised the old hag that he was stealing from.

Mrs. Mizuki was loading a small wheelbarrow with food as the boy snuck up on her other side, evidently hoping to ambush her load. He seized the wheelbarrow when Mrs. Mizuki was busy loading a large sack of potatoes. When the wheelbarrow lunged forward, so did Mrs. Mizuki with her hefty load and she fell in a heap, but was delayed in chasing after the clever thief by the weight of the potato sack. Though chase him eventually she did, and with an accompaniment of very colourful swearing, the boy had more stamina than even Naruto had suspected for he easily outran Mrs. Mizuki, leaving her to furiously linger in a trail of dust.

Naruto hurriedly set off in the direction he'd seen the thief heading. It didn't take him long to spot the brunet skulking near a stationary wagon loaded with rugs. When he walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder Naruto half-expected him to be surprised, but the boy grinned with the ease of a trained businessman.

"Changed your mind about my offer, huh?"

"No," Naruto replied firmly, "but do I regret hitting you with my door. I don't have much, but I thought you might take these bread rolls as an apology."

The brunet's eyes narrowed suspiciously on the basket. "What makes you think I'd want those dry little things?" he said disdainfully, "I don't think much of your false charity. I can steal much better food for _myself_."

Naruto ground his teeth for a moment but kept his mouth tightly shut. "It's not 'charity'. It's called being polite."

"Hardly. You're trying to buy yourself an easy conscience with these rolls. Didn't you hear yourself ordering me around just now? 'Take these lousy rolls of mine, stupid little brat! Praise my benevolence!' Rich people are just _insufferable_."

"I didn't say that!"

The boy considered him contemptuously. "You didn't say the _words_, no, but you made your intentions quite clear just from the look on your face. It says that you would never want to associate with me on equal terms, not unless you stand to gain." The thief immediately straightened up his posture, abruptly smug. "Incidentally, I _do_ offer a service of interest to you, so spare me."

Naruto stood motionless for a minute, then his whole body abruptly tensed in outrage and indignation - here he had meant to do a kind deed and all he got in return was mockery! After what seemed like an eternity of collecting himself and trying not to fall victim to his volcanic anger, Naruto finally ground out in as composed a voice as possible:

"_Fine_. If you don't want them, just leave them."

Jaw set, Naruto turned and walked away angrily, rather wishing he hadn't bothered at all. Being in such a hurry, the blond failed to notice the boy picking up his bread basket and hungrily devouring one of the rolls.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Aunt Konan,<em>

_I write to you as the official owner of the Matsuri Inn and I cannot tell you how happy I am! There is so much work to be done, but I feel a great excitement at the prospect anyway. Please wish me luck!_

_I am glad to hear that you, Mr. and Mrs. Inuzuka are all well. I have not yet heard from Kiba, though it has been three weeks. I am starting to feel concerned. Please send word should you hear any news. I hope he has maintained his usual correspondence with his parents, and that due to some harmless circumstances he is unable to keep one with myself._

_Faithfully,_

_Naruto_

* * *

><p>High above the harbour of Konoha hung the scorching sun, clearly celebrating the absence of its cloud rivals. In the city below, there was a similar air of festivity. Naruto, among them, was excited to be a part of it all. In his left hand he clutched a small flyer that had been thrown from nearby building rooftops. It read:<p>

_END THE BLOODFEST!_

_Join the fight against demons and_

_stop the deaths of innocent victims._

As people began to filter towards the bazaar, Naruto began to move with them. The route was even more congested than normal and Naruto couldn't avoid bumping into the man before him. He let out a mumbled apology as the man turned, frowning slightly at the contact. Naruto tried to get out of the crush by moving under the arm of the person in front of him, but the other began to move forward too, hindering Naruto's attempt to get by him and his arm moved faster than the blond could react.

_Crunch._

A sharp elbow came crashing down onto his nose with surprising force and Naruto reeled back with the pain of it. His hands reached instinctively to grab the injured part of his face, feeling for wetness and pulling back with a slight bit of red on his fingers.

"What the hell!" He screamed, looking up to male that'd hit him and was surprised to see that he'd already left the alley and was crossing the Uzunomichi bridge.

Naruto stared in shock for a moment before a chorus of voices began to complain. His body moved forward before he could think and just barely managed to slip through a barrier of people. Wiping his nose against the back of his hand, the blond took off after the individual before he could lose sight of him.

"Hey!" the blond called, for some reason fully expecting the other to turn around and wait for him. Instead, everyone but the pale, dark-haired boy turned to look at him as he made his way across the bridge. "Hey! I'm talking you!"

He managed to make it to the other fairly quickly, forcefully colliding into the other's back. The pale boy managed to stay upright throwing out a foot to catch his balance, but Naruto was sent flying to the ground with a loud crash. He sat there dazed, before shaking his head.

"Idiot," The other youth brushed off his clothing, as if merely coming into contact with Naruto had dirtied his clothing. "Watch where you're going."

"You watch where the hell _you're_ going!" he shouted before the insult registered in his mind. "Idiot? Who are you calling idiot? You're the one that can't walk properly!"

The pale boy began to walk away, weaving through the masses with a practiced ease. Even though he wasn't expecting it, Naruto was irritated that the brunet didn't even offer a hand to help him up. Naruto scrambled to his feet, struggling to keep up. He couldn't help the feeling of déjà vu as he stared at the boy, whose callous attitude was so ludicrous it seemed unreal. How did someone manage to become such a huge asshole without even a _shred_ of remorse?

"Hey!" he called angrily, approaching the boy's back. Before the boy could begin to walk away, Naruto reached out, grabbing a shoulder. "Don't walk away, you—"

The brunet slowly turned to face Naruto. His liquid dark eyes seemed endlessly cold in the sunlight as he glared at the blond. He looked so menacing for a young man that Naruto instinctively took a step away from him. Obsidian eyes fixed unblinkingly on him, the brunet spoke, careful to utter each word with strong dislike:

"Stop _yelling_ in my ear."

—and Naruto broke off into an unmanly shriek in sudden recognition.

"Sheepswallop and bloody buttered onions," he gasped in surprise, "what the hell are _you_ doing here?" It was Mr. Asshole - the arrogant prick he'd been unfortunate enough to encounter on his first day in Konoha. He had only seen that face once before but he'd never forget it, not as long as the seething hatred he felt for the boy blazed fiercely within him. Nobody, _nobody_ called Naruto Uzumaki dead last and got away with it.

The brunet regarded the hyperventilating blond blankly as he continued to make a fool of himself. After a moment, his brows furrowed slightly. "Do I know you?"

No other response could have riled Naruto as much as that question did – made innocently, even if he didn't see it as such - viewing it only as the most offensive taunt conceivable. To be informed the person he'd been passionately hating for weeks now didn't remember him or even their encounter was simply too much for his pride.

"You're going to know me real soon…" Naruto growled menacingly, "…as the guy who ripped your fucking head off! Seriously, _what _is your problem, asshole? Did you not even notice that you hit me in the face and then just walked off? I mean, who the hell do you think you are that you think you can get away with that?"

"Is that all this is about?" The brunet drawled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, which he then threw carelessly at Naruto's face. "You can keep that."

The blond furiously grabbed the cloth from his face, crumpling it in his hands as he felt the rage welling deep within him at the dismissal, as if this fucker had any right to look down on him like he was a nobody!

"You son of a – " Naruto cut himself off, instead reaching out to grab a hold of the other's shirt and pulling him down to eye level with him. The action did nothing to intimidate the other. He simply continued to stare at Naruto challengingly, a move that fueled his growing rage. "I swear, if you don't apologise this instant, I'm going to beat the shit out of that ugly face of yours!"

"Oh?" The brunet smirked at his threat. "I thought you were going to 'rip my head off'?"

Naruto was just about to comply when an authoritative voice broke into his angry haze. "Is something wrong, sirs?"

The blond turned to his right, where an off duty palace guard stood with his hand at his hip, close to his weapon, eyes watching him carefully. Naruto turned back to the bastard, noting that the other had yet to acknowledge the guard and was still staring him down. Knowing better than to confront the bastard – in public anyway, with a guard nearby – Naruto scoffed, letting go with a rough shove.

"No, sir," he responded. "We were just on our way."

The brunet began straightening the shirt that Naruto had crushed in his grip before making his way down the street without further acknowledgement. He could have imagined it, but Naruto swore that the bastard had been close to grinning. The blond fumed at his retreating back, ignoring the guard's warning that he better keep his anger in check.

Mr. Asshole stayed in his line of sight (Naruto's anger boiling just at the _sight_ of other's broad shoulders) until a tide of middle-class citizens paraded through the bazaar, full of energy and a strong sense of righteousness, and obscured his view of the bastard.

Naruto swore that if he ran into the bastard again he would _definitely_ punch that prick until he turned black and blue, and he didn't care if he _was_ arrested.

* * *

><p>At the city square, a small stage stood at one side, strategically erected with a view of the Royal Palace, so as to appear patriotic.<p>

A surprising number of people related tales of how their lives had been affected by demons. In the recent years, more and more people had suffered their deaths at the hands of unchecked magic. Unfortunately, demon slaying was an immensely complex and delicate procedure, only to be done by properly trained _Shinobi _sorcerors. Shinobi were respected in Konoha (by some at least, most respectfully feared them).

Where Naruto had grown up it was different, there was _only_ fear, and often hate. In Whirlpool they spoke of 'Shinobi sorcerers' as they would speak of a horrific abomination, with an undeniable hate polishing every syllable into sharp, hot pokers. Even here in Konoha, not many were comfortable to accept aid from those who practiced magic, the Demon's own craft. Help from a Shinobi was often said to be worse than no help at all; like poison in a pie, their help always had hooks in it.

There was a saying in Whirlpool that spoke of accepting Shinobi aid:

_(. . . if you drink from a bottle marked 'poison' it is almost certain to disagree with you sooner or later. . .)_

"Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you most sincerely for joining our rally today!" The master of ceremonies began, "For over a year now we have been battling with the Demon race and their persistent ways of violence! And, for over a year now, they have tried to silence our outspoken views which, in doing so, only inspired others to join our resistance!"

Suddenly, one person in the crowd caught the blond's attention. Naruto blinked a few times in disbelief, but there was no mistaking it – the thief boy was here, and by his expression he was looking for something. Still feeling bad about their last catastrophic encounter, Naruto raised his hand in a wave but the boy gave a start and immediately ran away. Naruto grimaced, lowering his hand limply, feeling put out. He couldn't understand why he felt upset, but he did.

_Upset and lonely._

The master of ceremonies continued over all of the noise:

"We are proud, my fellow citizens, to have come this far," he said wistfully, "and there is no doubt whatsoever that the possibility of our accomplishments have been entirely dependant on your endless support! Allow me to introduce our sponsors!"

Everyone burst into wild cheers and furious clapping. The noise was so much that Naruto missed the name of the first sponsor, who was a well-dressed man. His dark eyes and tan skin were that of a Konohagakureman, but his hair, so light that it appeared silver, clearly marked his descent as not entirely of this region.

"...has generously financed a number of our campaigns and is our strongest influence on the Royal Council of Advisors!"

As the next few sponsors and supporters were introduced, Naruto began to clap along with the rest of the crowd unenthusiastically. He took some time to gaze at the crowd, many wore elaborately embroidered silk coats and breeches. It made Naruto feel self-conscious of his simple, stout woolen clothing. When he spotted a young man similarly dressed he felt marginally better about his attire. However, as his eyes fully processed the youth to his far right, Naruto's hands slowed, eventually coming to a complete stop when he realised just _who_ he was staring at.

Mr. Asshole was looking up at the stage with what could only be described as disdain. It was an odd thing to see amidst the sea of exploding enthusiasm.

"He did nothing to hurt anybody and yet he lay dying for three days, in more pain than any child should have to bear," a mother, whose child had recently been cursed by a demon, related to the crowd nearby, "Why, if it wasn't for Lord Orochimaru, he would have died like all the others!"

On hearing the name 'Orochimaru', everyone fell silent. An uneasy murmur ran through the crowd. The mother, seeming to realise her mistake, quickly tried to remedy it, but she was already being escorted out of the square by palace guards. Although she struggled fiercely, she was unable to shake off the two men who had a hold of her.

Naruto was wondering what was going on when two whispering women answered his question.

"_Lord Orochimaru…!_ Isn't he…?"

"Watch what you say," her friend hissed. "I'm sure he's... as legitimate as any other hedge-doctor."

"He never uses salves or ointments. No-one can explain exactly _how_ he cures his patients," the other snapped back. "He might be stealing our very souls and we wouldn't even know it!"

Nearby, Naruto heard Mr. Asshole make a derogative sound. The two women turned to stare at him, but when they caught sight of him they quickly moved away, still whispering fearfully.

"Oh my goodness, Chihiro! Isn't _he_…?"

But what, or who Mr. Asshole was, Naruto didn't hear, because someone roughly elbowed their way to him looking livid.

"YOU! I finally found you, ungrateful whelp! You dared to take advantage of my wife and I! _Stealing_ _our valuables_!"

With a shock, Naruto realised it was Mr. Mizuki.

"I have no _idea_ what you mean." he retorted at once. "I barely stayed at your home long enough to do anything of the sort!" A few people turned to see what the fuss was about.

"Liar!" Mizuki bellowed, making more people stare. "You never even paid us for your stay! How _dare_ you!"

"I paid you well in advance before my arrival!" Naruto protested, outraged. "In fact, I paid you for three full nights' stay even though I had been there only half a day! How dare you accuse me of anything!"

"Thieving boy! Manipulative wretch! How dare you speak to me –"

"What's going on here?" It was a palace guard. His eyes were fixed on Naruto, full of suspicion. He marched directly over to them both. Naruto barely had time to react before he felt iron-like fingers close fiercely around his wrist and twist his whole arm, thrusting him roughly towards the guard.

"Check his sleeves, officer!" Mizuki chided encouragingly.

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion. The innkeeper's pallid face twisted in a cruel, somehow satisfied smirk and it suddenly occurred to Naruto that Mizuki must have planted something in his clothes!

"W-wait! This is a mistake!"

But the guard did not wait, nor would he listen to reason. Naruto stubbornly tried to stand straight as his cloak was violently ripped off, searched and torn in half, then cast carelessly aside.

People were crowding around dangerously now. Some began throwing scraps of food – apple cores, fruit peelings, piscus seeds, anything unwanted in his direction. Others spat or nudged him painfully, and everyone jeered insults in his direction.

Mizuki watched with pleasure as Naruto's face burned with humiliation. "Throw him in the dungeons and leave him to rot, guard!"

Just then, something made Mizuki stumble over so that his grip loosened enough for Naruto to pull away. The blond scrambled to escape the crowd before the jeering could get worse.

* * *

><p>It was dusk by the time Naruto finally reached his inn. Idling in the parlour, he looked through a small window, glimpsing the starless sky beyond it. It was a sight Naruto couldn't quite get used to. The stars and constellations were always clearly visible back in Whirlpool country. He wondered briefly if Kiba was looking at the same, starless sky.<p>

A small knock sounded at the door and the blond got up quickly, glad to have something to distract his thoughts. As the door swung open Naruto surveyed his new guest and faltered in surprise.

The thief raised his head to meet Naruto's gaze and, upon taking one look at the blond's appearance, his grin stretched.

"What the hell happened to you? Get mugged?"

Naruto tried to act more composed than he looked. His clothing was powdered with dirt, his hair was even _more_ disheveled than usual and a few piscus seeds clung valiantly to it. "Did you want something?"

"I'm here change the locks, like you asked. You'll need ones that'll protect you from people like..." he faltered briefly. "Well, people like _me_."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, full of skepticism. "Why the sudden generosity?"

"_Actually_ I was hoping you might do me a favour…"

"I knew it!"

"It's not much…" The brunet continued innocently, "Just some visiting privileges at your inn every now and then…"

"NO."

The thief's expression seemed to harden slightly. It was a subtle change, but Naruto did not miss it. "Why _not_?"

"You'd rob me blind! Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Won't you at least _consider _my request?" The boy wheedled, "When's the last time I tried robbing you?"

"… this morning."

"You see? I've been behaving so well!"

"I don't think so."

"I promise to never rob you again!"

"No."

The thief's russet coloured eye seemed to darken and merge with his pupil as his lips drew into a tight frown. "Oh, I get it. Now you've got your payment you want nothin' else to do with me, huh?"

"Payment_?_"

"Payment," the boy repeated bluntly, "For your troubles earlier."

Naruto's brow knitted. "Are you talking about the bread? I told you that was supposed to be an apology."

The brunet gave him a long, skeptical look. "Do you _really_ expect me to believe you'd do such a thing out of the sheer goodness of your heart?" he snickered suddenly, adding: "Did you think I'd taken the trouble with ol' man Mizuki out of my _mine_?"

_Mizuki?_ Naruto blinked. "You know about what happened at the rally?"

The thief released an exasperated sigh. "I was there, too. I thought _you_ of all people would have remembered that. The only reason you escaped from the rally was because _I_ tripped him and it was surprisingly difficult, I'll have you know." A mordant smirk suddenly crossed the boy's face. "Do you always have such... formidable enemies?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Naruto said, frowning.

The thief laughed at him and a thought suddenly occured to Naruto: like his earlier effort with the bread basket, was this the boy's way of an apology? The boy's reaction to his help was probably from years of hardening experience, and it could be that the boy was trying to prove himself to Naruto the only way he knew how.

Besides, if what the boy claimed was true, Naruto did indeed owe him dearly and if Mizuki's threats were anything to go by he'd need those locks…

_What's life like if you don't take a chance now and then? Time to toss the dice._

His throat suddenly parched, the blond readied himself for the impact of his next few words, knowing fully well it had the high possibility of ruining his life.

"Fine. You can stay. But _don't_ double-cross me. This is a trial basis! The offer ceases as soon as the quality of your work slips below paar."

The boy looked up slowly, stunned, as though unable to quite comprehend the meaning behind the blond's words and then, just-as-quick, he was unavoidably _smiling_ at him—_truly_ smiling— and it produced in Naruto a crystalline and unexpected shock for the way it made him feel to see it.

The brunet stuck out a grimy, calloused hand.

"Name's Konohamaru, boss. At your service!"

* * *

><p><em>Dear Naruto,<em>

_I just informed Mr. and Mrs. Inuzuka that you are the proud owner of an inn. They are extremely pleased with you, although not half as pleased as I. I imagine you are already quite busy, but I hope you will find time to write home now and then. Nobody in our family has been as ambitious, as driven and as destined for success as you are. Whatever happens henceforth, I expect you to commit yourself wholly in all your endeavours._

_As to your query about Kiba, I regret to report that we know little more than yourself. I do not yet know how seriously we should be considering this situation. I will do my best to keep you informed. In the meantime, let us only hope for that best._

_ And remember: do not  underestimate your new society.  
><em>

_All my love,_

_Your aunt_

_P.S. What have I told you about littering your letters with those childish doodles?_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ******I imagine that you all must want to hurt me badly for moving the plot along so slowly. ****I'm impatient to introduce Sasuke _properly, _************but I really can't let these get too long.****

**Oh, I'd also just like to thank** _Narutopokefan_ **and** _Fireotaku18_ **for their reviews ^^**


	3. Mutton and Lamb

**Chapter 3:**  
>Mutton and Lamb<p>

"_But there's this difference: one is gold put to the use of paving-stones, and the other is tin polished to ape a service of silver._"  
>~ Heathcliff, Ch. 21, Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte).<p>

* * *

><p>"Excuse me… would you be so kind as to lend me a room for the night?"<p>

"Of course." Naruto replied, moving aside. "Please come in."

The strange woman stepped inside. Her dress gleaned faintly as she moved, a lighter green than her cloak. Altogether she was like no girl he had ever seen before. The wide hood of her cloak framed her face and hair, hanging down in soft, rose-petal ringlets. Even here in Konoha, Naruto didn't think pink hair was all that common. Her clothes were just as strange; cloak deep green velvet with thick sliver embroidery of leaves, vines and flowers all along the edges. She held herself up with a grace and air of command that made him feel awkward and stumble-footed. She was barely tall enough to come up to Naruto's shoulders, but her presence was such that her height seemed the proper one, and he felt ungainly in his tallness. It was when the woman removed her shawl that Naruto's jaw nearly dropped – she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He couldn't help but gape openly at her for a few moments. For this, the blond received a sharp look from his guest.

"Is it customary to stare down your guests at this inn?" asked the woman pertly.

"Oh! I was…I… uh… you were asking for a room?" Naruto garbled. His face grew hot at his tongue's fumbling. "Which floor would your prefer?"

She paused briefly, before replying: "Whichever is safest, I suppose."

Naruto decided to place the new guest on the third floor. Most were sent to this floor, which was above his own room, so that they wouldn't be disturbed as he went about his usual business. As for the difference in safety, Naruto was confident that there was none.

The woman retreated to her room soon after, appearing to glide over the ground rather than walk; pausing at the stairs Naruto thought he saw her smile, a bare curve of the corners of her mouth. It reminded him of the sort his aunt wore when she knew a secret.

"Good night."

"Ah…! Good night, uh… m'Lady." Naruto made a stiff, jerking bow, then went red in the face as he straightened.

After saying 'Goodnight' to an additional three guests (without stumbling this time, thankfully), the blond retired for the night. Before going to his room, though, Naruto checked the signatures in the guest log book.

The last name on the list, written in delicate cursive letters, was _Miss_ _Sakura Haruno_.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Naruto woke up early to prepare breakfast for his guests. He brought up a tray of soup and bread to each room. The two other guests were awake and gladly opened their doors for him. When Naruto knocked on Sakura Haruno's door, however, there was no answer. Assuming the lady did not want food, Naruto left her alone. He returned downstairs to the main lobby when the scraping sound of wood announced Iruka Umino's arrival for work.<p>

Naruto greeted the older man with a toothy grin. "How did the visit go? Is your mother still angry with you?"

"Only as long as I'm single," Iruka said, shrugging. "But I wouldn't worry – after eight unchanging years, I'm starting to believe she enjoys being so petty. How are our guests this morning?"

"They seem… well," replied Naruto distractedly. He sat behind the main desk to begin the bookkeeping. "A girl arrived late last night after you left."

"A young woman?" Iruka repeated curiously. "She came here alone so late?"

Naruto nodded. "I've never even imagined anyone like her, Iruka - she's ten times prettier than _anybody_ I've ever seen." Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw Iruka begin to smile. "Her cloak is ten times fancier than any feastday clothes I've ever seen, too. She's like something written from a gleeman's stories. Like a… like…" He paused, "Like a high-born lady." He finished with a sigh.

"That's unexpected. A late traveler, I suppose." Iruka remarked, still smiling.

Naruto frowned. _What does he think is so funny?_

A quick tug at Naruto's sleeve and a voice pitched low enough for his ear alone distracted him from the older man's talk. "Come on, Boss, before he puts you to work."

Naruto glanced down and had to grin. Konohamaru crouched beside the cart so Iruka could not see him, his wiry body contorted like a stork trying to bend itself double.

Konohamaru's brown eyes twinkled with mischief, as usual. "I caught a big, old badger – all grouchy at being pulled from its den. I was thinkin' of letting it loose on the green and watch the girls run."

Naruto's smile broadened. He took a quick look at Iruka – who had since returned to his duties – to excuse himself then barely bit back a yelp as Konohamaru kicked his ankle. The brunet nodded insistently toward the doorway at the back of the room and hurried on without waiting. Naruto followed less quickly, limping.

"What was all that about?" he demanded as soon as he was in the hallway that lead to the kitchen, "You could've broke my ankle!"

"It's Iruka." Konohamaru said, peering sourly past Naruto's shoulder into the Foyer. Konohamaru was always cagey in the presence of the older man and Iruka equally so. While Iruka had said little when Naruto had brought the young thief to the inn, he maintained a grim countenance. Being unable to understand Naruto's intuitive decisions, he had taken, against his inclinations, to simply passively observing the blond's actions and keeping a careful eye on the young brunet.

Naruto scoffed. "Look, I need to unload the cider into the cellar. I'll see you later, though."

Konohamaru rolled his eyes skyward. "Toting barrels! I'd rather play stones with snot-nosed Udon. Well, I know of better things than Badgers." He reached inside his tattered pockets and producing a small torn paper. He held it up proudly to the candlelight for Naruto to see.

…

_Notice to Lord D—S - Kiri, Kiri__gakure._

_Approval from H. R. H. granted for the use of the region's designated military personnel, effective immediately. Detailed instructions sent to ROOTS faction. Send bi-monthly reports on all activity._

_Message approved by S—H, High Commissioner – Konoha, Konohagakure._

…

"How did you get _that_?" Naruto gaped, fascinated by the perfect image of the Hidden Leaf's Coat of Arms stamped beneath the High Commissioner's loopy signature.

Konohamaru grinned at the blond mischievously. "I dug a hole in the ground one day, y'know, like you do, on a fancy. Upon returning to it the next day I found—among a few other things—this note, which was carelessly left behind. I thought you might like it, so here it is."

"Convenient." Naruto said darkly.

"Well, I thought so."

"Of those 'other things' that were found in this hole, were there perhaps any _people_?"

Konohamaru grinned again. "Maybe. I hardly remember."

Naruto scoffed and slumped back against his chair. He glanced at the door of the lounge, wondering whether Iruka could hear their conversation.

"Tell me, what does 'H. R. H.' mean?"

"It's an acronym for 'His Royal Highness,'" Konohamaru replied, sounding bored. "They must think they're being clever."

"The person who approved the letter... this 'High Commissioner S—H'...I think I might know him," _Sakumo Hatake,_ Naruto thought with a frown. "But to whom it's addressed... 'Lord D—S'?"

"We will never be _sure_, but I think we can assume that it stands for Danzo Shimura." Konohamaru drawled, "Though the 'Lord' part is controversial at best."

"What is happening in Kirikagure's capital that requires _military intervention_? It must be pretty serious."

"Who knows?" Konohamaru said dispassionately. "It could be a response to all those demon attacks."

"The attacks up north would warrant _inquiry_, yes," Naruto said thoughtfully, "but a military response?"

"I can only offer you my humble speculations, Boss. I try not to know all too much if there's a chance _Shinobi_ are involved. It's safer that way. That reminds me – how am I being paid?"

Naruto sent the brunet a flat look. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Surely you didn't think this was volunteer work?" Konohamaru inquired, voice lazy. "You wanted information on Sakumo Hatake - not half the thieves in Konoha combined could have got hold of such a valuable—"

"Ah, so _this _is where you've got to."

In one, glorious second, Naruto jumped ten inches and flung his hands into the air. He turned around slowly, and found himself staring into the brown eyes of Iruka. The blond immediately schooled his expression into one of innocence – he'd had years of practice in Whirlpool from his life as a prankster and instigator of general mayhem. Konohamaru had already hidden the note and looked positively angelic.

Iruka watched the brunet with obvious wariness. He looked not best pleased to find him there. "Good morning Konohamaru. I see you've come to help Naruto move the cider. How generous of you."

Konohamaru leapt to his feet at the first word and began backing away. "Good morning, Mister Umino. The Boss here just sent me to—"

"No doubt he did," Iruka said with a knowing look, "And no doubt, since you are a boy who does his chores right off, you've finished already. Now, none of this is unloading the cart. I am sure Naruto would thank you for your help."

Iruka disappeared into the inn again. Naruto turned to the brunet.

"What was all that about?"

Konohamaru shrugged. "Nothin', really. I told know-it-all Moegi that some merchants had seen ghost hounds, breathing fire and running wild in Konoha. She ate it up like clotted cream."

"And Iruka is mad at you for that?" Naruto said doubtfully.

"Not… exactly." Konohamaru paused, then shook his head. "You see, I covered these two dogs with flour, so they were all white and let them loose near Moegi's place. It really wasn't my fault. I mean, how was _I_ to know they were Iruka's? "

Naruto laughed and winced at the same time.

Konohamaru picked up a cask of cider from the cart with both arms, he hurried toward the cellar in a half trot. "Hey, maybe Lady Haruno is around. Watching you stare at her all day lookin' like you've been poleaxed will be as good as a badger any day." He said with a grin.

Naruto paused in the act of reaching for a cask from the cart. He really had managed to put Sakura Haruno out of his mind. That was unusual in itself. But likely she was round the inn somewhere. There wasn't much chance he could avoid her. At the best of times he was never very nimble with girls, but whenever Sakura gave him that intent look, with her eyes as wide as they could go, as if every last ounce of her attention was on him, he just could not seem to make the words go where he wanted.

"Well?" Konohamaru called from the entrance of the cellar. "I didn't say I would do it by _myself_."

* * *

><p>The next few weeks saw a long series of trials for Naruto. Maintaining the inn required constant work and efficiency, particularly in the areas of hygiene. Cleaning aside, he had to make arrangements for food and basic supplies, which were surprisingly difficult to keep track of consistently. It was on the way to purchase such supplies from the bazaar that Naruto decided upon a small investment in the Konoha delicacy of cask ale. He figured he was entitled to a treat before spending a good chunk of his day lugging stores back up to the inn.<p>

"Thanks," Naruto smiled at the vendor as he took his change and stepped backwards away from the marquee. Unfortunately, his back collided with something and he heard a distant, "_Fuck_," and a splash as something liquid hit the floor.

"Ah crap," Naruto turned sharply, apology spilling from his lips, "I'm sor – "

The sight of the other boy actually jarred him physically, the feeling of it cutting his apology short. Mr. Asshole stood before him, dabbing at his now ale-stained shirt futilely with a crumpled handkerchief in one hand. In the other, he held a now half-empty beer stein. It was easy to see Naruto had been the cause of the spill.

Dark eyes lifted to stare at him accusingly. Before waiting for the other to make a comment, Naruto blurted out the first thing on his mind.

"I'm not sorry!"

Seeing his mouth begin to move, Naruto turned and ran right away from the marquee, not bothering even to wait for the drink he'd already paid for. He almost expected the other to run after him, demanding an apology in a similar fashion he had done before. After a few minutes of walking briskly away and no sign of the pale teen and Naruto felt embarrassed for even considering it; of the two of them, only _he_ was brash, stupid and compulsive.

Naruto snorted at the thought, shaking his head in dismay. "I can't believe I'm _defending_ that asshole."

By the time Naruto reached the paved streets of outer Konoha the sky had darkened significantly and a sinister silence was falling upon the streets. The crooked alleyways that looked so friendly in the daylight were suddenly ominous with their deep shadows. There was the occasional shop and inn, but Naruto had no money and would therefore not be very welcome.

Somehow this area seemed more threatening than the others. This was a strictly residential areaand a poorer one than those he'd been in before. Here the houses were smaller and shabbier, with crumbling brick facades and unkempt terracotta roofs. Few people were roaming the streets here and those that remained outdoors stared at him strangely, making him feel uneasy. Once, a large, daunting drunk seized his arm. Luckily he only sought support as he stumbled past and continued on his way but it made Naruto realise how vulnerable he was; he grew skittish, jumping at every little noise around him, feeling with apprehension a sense of being followed. Once or twice he heard a crunch of dirt nearby, but as soon as he turned to look, there was simply nobody to be seen.

Suddenly, something moved from behind. It was a shuffling noise followed by a dull thud, a cry of pain and then another, heavier thud. Naruto turned to look with dread and spotted a large foot sticking out into the street from a nearby alleyway. A dark liquid was spreading around it, its colour indistinguishable as it reflected the moonlight. Naruto paled and hurried away from where he stood.

There was a bridge up ahead bathed in moonlight. It looked like the Uzunomichi Bridge. Had he been wandering so long? No matter, he needed to cross that bridge. The houses on the other side looked nicer, with warm light glowing from the windows. Naruto felt that if he could cross that bridge, he would surely be safe...

A dark figure darted towards him from the side. He was heading straight for Naruto, his arm outstretched as if trying to grab him from afar. Naruto gasped and ran towards the bridge with everything he had. Fear gripped him, but there might still be a chance of escape. The bridge was very close now. Only a few steps left…

_Yes!_ He was on the bridge at last. Encouraged by the firm wood beneath his feet, Naruto tried quickening his pace. However, in his haste, the blond tripped on his own feet. The slant of the bridge didn't help matters and his ankle twisted painfully. Naruto fell awkwardly to the ground.

He knew it was hopeless now, for he could not move a muscle, at least, not at the alarming speed which the cloaked figure moved. Heart and blood pounding in his ears, Naruto heard the heavy footsteps getting closer. He only had two choices at this point: to cower or bare his fangs. Naruto was no coward. He always bared his fangs. He became an animal at these times, back into a corner—eyes dilated, focused and pointed like a slick needle; hair frazzled; lips quivering. Naruto hated feeling cornered. It was the fiery sensation that sent the animal inside him bucking.

Naruto stared up at his pursuer defiantly. The man -no, not a man; closer up the term boy seemed more accurate- was rather tall.

"Well, I've seen you look dumb before, but I don't think I've ever seen you look _crazy_." His voice was deeply sardonic and, strangely, familiar, but his face was cast in shadow making identification impossible.

For a second, Naruto didn't realise the stinging pain and blurriness to his vision but then the adrenaline left him completely—before he knew what was happening, he blacked out.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up feeling warm and rested. The first thing he saw was a steaming bowl, filled with what looked and smelled of herbal tea. He then noticed that it was on the floor. Naruto was confused; why was it on the floor when his bedroom had a perfectly good bedside table? He looked to his right where this table should have been, but instead faced a wall. Naruto placed his hand on it, as if in doubt of its existence. It was covered with faded wallpaper which had been perforated with long, eerie-looking scratches.<p>

"What…?"

He sat up so quickly that he grew lightheaded and laid back once more. Naruto looked around the room he was in. For starters, one could not quite call it a room. It was rather a crevice in the wall, and the miniature bed within took up the entire space. A curtain covered the opening instead of a door.

Sitting up more slowly this time, Naruto noticed that he was still in his clothes, but his shoes had been removed. He got out of bed and pulled back the curtain to his room.

There were stairs leading to the floor below, which led to another little hallway with _another_ set of stairs. Naruto descended the stairs, and, after scanning the kitchen whilst passing a large, ornate archway, stalked down the hallway to the final room he had yet to search for his elusive host. From what he could decipher from its outward appearance, its door appeared to be that of some sort of study or library, however he could not tell exactly. Naruto was quite certain though, of _who _lay within, since there was absolutely nowhere else they could be.

Naruto pushed open the door without knocking.

"_Aha_— oh _damn_…"

It seemed that, yet again, Naruto had found himself in a completely empty space, devoid of his benefactor or any other vaguely human being.

Still, Naruto walked into the vast area, closing the door behind him as his eyes adjusted to the slightly darkened surroundings.

An unnecessary fire blazed in the hearth behind a large, intimidating desk covered in letters and papers. It was both a study and bedroom apparently, since its walls consisted of rows upon rows of various tomes of this, that and the other, some collecting dust and others practically falling apart through overuse. He assumed that whoever used this room must be learned, or at least well read. The blond took a few steps toward a particularly worn looking bookcase before coming to an abrupt halt.

Naruto loved books, but hated to read. There was just something so comforting about the thick, coarse scent that soared off the pages when they flipped, but plowing through all the words and sentences engraved on them seemed next to impossible to do.

Either way, he was impressed with the collection as his eyes took in the titles on every shelf. He bit his lip as his gaze was drawn to a particularly well-thumbed tome, out of line with the rest, obviously due to a recent re-reading. Crooking his neck to read the title, he squinted, mouthing the bold letters.

"G-E-N-I-N…" He straightened. "Genin?"

And he didn't know what possessed him to reach out for it, to remove it from its resting place and feast his eyes on its bound cover…but somehow he just…let himself.

"_Genin_." The blond read aloud once more, but at once he knew it to mean something other than the alien word his eyes saw. He didn't recognise the word as belonging to Common vocabulary, but the information seemed to settle at the base of his brain with ease, the translation boiling inside his psyche. _Novice._

Opening the faded cover, he began the preface, which was written in the same, bizarre scribe. Strangely, Naruto found it to be as legible as the title:

"_Chakra_:

"_A__n ethereal substance that flows in streams just beneath the surface of the planet; the river of energy that circles our planet, giving life to the world and everything in it. __Those who are able to draw upon this power are referred to as Shinobi, or 'Servants of All' in the Old Tongue."_

Naruto flipped through the pages, red markings marring the pages flashed by in a transient blur. Whoever owned this book had punctuated its papers with copious footnotes, both criticising and expanding upon its contents.

Then a passage, inscribed in loopy, long handwriting, stilled his hands.

_'A Shinobi never lies,_

_But the truth he speaks_

_May not be the truth you think you hear.'  
><em>

Naruto paused, intrigued to discover who had written such mysterious words. And yet, when he looked for the author, the only script he found consisted of two, small letters at the base of the passage.

_~ I.U._

How mysterious! Why would someone do such a thing? Frowning, his fingers lifted to turn the page and find out...

… but that was when he heard someone start to open the door.

Cursing mentally, and without a second to even consider what he was going to say to whomever was poised to enter, the blond rested the book haphazardly on the edge of the shelf and practically leapt into the centre of the room, so as to appear utterly innocent. Nevertheless, he was absolutely prepared for scolding from a displeased servant. What he was certainly was _not _prepared for however, was the one who actually entered.

Naruto froze as Mr. Asshole came into view, unmoving when his dark gaze settled, surprised, on his own. The blond swallowed as he took in the figure cut in dark, poorly fitted countryman's clothes. His ebony hair was still untamed, his eyes both sharp and opulent as they drifted over his own face and outline. Something passed over his defined features briefly.

"The unbearable outlander," he murmured eventually, voice low and even, "May I ask why you're in here?"

Naruto's shoulders became tense, his stare shifty and uncertain like an admonished child. "I-I might ask you precisely the same question."

The dark-haired boy watched him for a long time, it seemed, eyes impenetrable, before speaking once more. "Unfortunately I cannot tell you my reasons, but I am still rather interested in yours. So, pray tell, what business you have entering a man's private study?"

"Tell me yours and perhaps I will." Naruto countered stubbornly.

Obsidian eyes narrowed and danced in the firelight. "I asked you first, dobe."

"I am _not_ a 'dobe'," the blond hissed, "and I would rather you not pry into my business when you seem so secretive of your own."

"Not a dobe?" The brunet repeated with that goddamned _smirk. _Naruto's temper flared to see it as they locked gazes. "Then tell me, _dobe_, how is it you wish to be addressed?"

"Well, certainly I do not approve of 'dead last'!" Naruto spluttered in outrage.

The brunet's expression remained unchanged, but suddenly Naruto wished he had not spoken, though he could not say why. For a moment the dark-haired boy merely looked at him, those black eyes lingering on him, endlessly cold. It seemed as if it were pulling his face off in layers, wondering what motions the brain was taking.

_Why the hell are you looking at me like that?_

Taking a few steps forward, the dark-haired boy approached him, tuned remarkably to the atmosphere of the room. It was strange… Naruto found he quite belonged in this darkened, almost secretive place.

"Who told you where to find it, first of all." The boy commanded, voice dangerously low. His coal eyes were narrowed now and highly suspicious.

"Nobody _told _me anything!" Naruto yelled. "This was merely the last room I had yet to search—"

The other's face contorted.

"Search for what?"

The blond glared, turning to face the pale boy fully. Both sets of eyes were narrow with a slightly violent and conflicting sheen.

"Who _are_ you? Asking me all these questions when you have absolutely no right! Especially when it is clear that we are _both _trespassing!"

The arm shot out so fast that Naruto missed the beginning of the movement; a wan hand wrapped firmly around his own bare wrist - it felt like the boy's hand was extremely hot, as if his fingers were the coiling, orange wires on a sizzling stove. The heat of them made him shiver uncontrollably. Naruto attempted to struggle from the pale boy's firm grip but it seemed virtually pried onto his wrist. The dark-haired youth pulled him roughly —_closer_— ceasing the blond's aggressive movements immediately as their bodies became unnecessarily familiar.

Clearing his throat loudly as if to suggest his violated proximity, Naruto scowled into the gap-like irises.

The boy's dark eyes were strangely hot and intense.

"Tell me what you were searching for."

In those next few moments, something completely strange and unordinary occurred.

Hesitantly, Naruto looked directly into his eyes, which upon closer inspection appeared a lot more crimson than far away. They seemed to contain slivers of a deep, crimson garnet bursting forth from the pupil like a small nova. It made Naruto shiver for reasons he didn't completely understand at the moment. He stared wildly into that pale face, the dark eyes mesmerising him, drawing him in. He had the distinct feeling that he was being hypnotised… He wasn't quite sure what it was but…

—he suddenly felt like he was a floating, disembodied entity and he couldn't for the life of him_ focus_ on the boy's face; he sensed it was sharp and pale but the boy's eyes had him cornered. He only half-noted the fact the boy was still speaking, demanding to know what he was doing there. Naruto's head reeled suddenly, and he felt as if he was careening in and out of reality for a brief moment, before shaking himself again, and ridding himself of it completely.

He had no idea how many dizzying minutes or seconds had passed but the boy finally whispers from a pale, unmoving face, eyes shocked grayish—

_Who are you really?_

—only Naruto isn't sure if he is aware that he's speaking because his eyes are queerly bright and the depth of his voice is hoarse.

The door opened without warning.

"Ah, I see you've located our guest."

Naruto all but jumped out of the bastard's embrace, and fortunately, the other boy let him do so this time.

The man who had entered pushed back his hood and Naruto goggled. The man was older than old; he made the elder back in Whirlpool look like a child in the bloom of health. If Naruto had thought his nemesis pale then this man was impossibly so; the skin of his face was like crazed parchment drawn tight over a skull, then pulled tighter still. Long, brittle midnight strands covered his scalp. His ears were withered bits, like scraps from ancient leather; his eyes sunken, tan proteins that peered out of his head as if from ends of a tunnel. His coat and cloak were purple, black and white, embroidered and brocaded; more ornate clothing Naruto had never seen on a male. Only on a feastday would any ordinary man dress in anything like that, and never with that much grandeur.

The brunet turned to slowly glance over at newcomer.

"Do you need something, Orochimaru?"

Naruto's ears pricked at the sound of the name. So _this _was the infamous Lord Orochimaru. Naruto tried not to show his intrigue but he wondered about the rumours he'd heard at the rally.

"Orochimaru-_sensei_." The man – Orochimaru – corrected, voice slightly derisive, "And yes. You're dismissed as of now. I'll be very kind to him, you needn't fear."

The dark-haired boy's lips tightened abruptly. He looked as if he'd rather rip his own heart from his ribs and devour it than be spoken to such a fashion. "If you'll excuse my saying so, _sensei_…" Naruto noticed the pause in his voice before he added the honorific. "I—"

Orochimaru cut him off, voice gone cold and sharp.

"You're _dismissed_, Sasuke."

The brunet's muscles seemed to tense in revulsion -eyes flashing, hard and narrow- but his face remained as expressionless as ever. Orochimaru leaned forward to hold the door open for him but the boy's eyes turned abruptly on him. Exterior icy, they burned dagger-like, as if daring him to any further invade his personal space. His movements seemed more taut than usual as he made for the door, as if he was straining to keep his distaste in line with his stoic mannerisms. The door shut hard behind him.

Orochimaru watched the door thoughtfully for a while afterwards; his tongue crossed his wan, withered lips, sounding like stone on rough leather. "I hardly thought it possible, but Sasuke is even more unpleasant than usual. My, he _must_ be troubled... Whatever did you say to him?" The curiosity in the man's voice sounded most fascinated.

Naruto still bristled with the need to defend himself but the man turned to gaze evenly at him; the sly, throaty purr echoing in the otherwise silent room:

"My name is Lord Orochimaru. This is my home. I trust you are recovered?"

To his surprise, Naruto realised he had failed to notice that his ankle had completely healed._ How the—? _"Yes, I am very well, Lord Orochimaru." he replied courteously. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I'm very grateful for your help …uh, sir."

Orochimaru's eyes had not left him, they watched him meticulously. There was something in that stare, something Naruto could not quite identify, but it made him feel all sorts of uncomfortable things.

"How much do I owe you for your services?"

Orochimaru's thin, sharp lips crawled further upwards. "Consider this an act of… compassion, if you will."

The man's tone resembled an eel and Naruto felt slimy as it slithered over him. "I will… thank you," he spouted uneasily. "Um, do you have any idea where I might find the person that helped me yesterday? I am very grateful to them for bringing me here."

The man's eyes glittered eerily for a moment as his light, tan irises glinted yellow in the light of the hearth's flames. "Why, yes, he works for me. I suspect if you wait he will return soon enough. These are his quarters, after all. Good day, Mr. Uzumaki."

And with that cold smile flashing, he left the blond, closing the door.

Naruto's stomach twisted uneasily. That couldn't have made him...nervous...?

Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Realising that it must be his benefactor, Naruto went to meet him halfway

_—_and his stomach bottomed out.

It turned out to be Mr. Asshole (–_Sasuke_- his mind prompted), looking particularly tired and grim. When he caught sight of the blond, his tiredness was replaced by annoyance.

The room was completely silent, save for the telltale flicker of the fire and, if one listened closely, the raindrops pelting on the nearby window. After a moment or two of artificial, floundering quiet, Naruto broke the stillness and began in what was sure to be an awkward conversation. Of all people in Konoha to be indebted to, _he_ was at the bottom of Naruto's wishlist – a small notch above the Mizuki's.

"So..." The blond said at last, his gaze examining the room rather intently, "I was not… aware that this was your study." Naruto coughed artlessly. "I mean, I had no reason to even suspect—"

"That a man may enter his own study? Well of course not." Sasuke finished dryly.

Naruto's head shot up and he scowled darkly. "There is no need to patronise me. My foolishness is quite apparent _without _mockery."

Sasuke's abandoned smirk flitted back upon his features. "Mm, I don't know about _that_."

Naruto ground his teeth but otherwise remained silent. He had told himself to remain calm in the other's presence, but he just had to make it difficult for him. He was fully aware that, no matter how much of a complete _bastard _he was, Sasuke had done him a service. Naruto _hated_ that fact, but that wouldn't change it.

The brunet looked over at the blond, a trace of contempt in his dark eyes.

"You made me late for an appointment."

It took Naruto a second to realise what the other was referring to. He tried to keep the grin off his face at the thought of inconveniencing the pale boy, even if it was unintentional. The blond assumed a neutral expression, trying to convey sincerity.

"I'm sorry." It was arduously hard to even say, but Naruto knew that he owed that to the dark-haired youth. "You're a complete asshole and I'm pretty sure I hate you... but the way I acted before was completely out of line."

Another silence. And then—

"Care to repeat that?"

There was a slow exhale from the blond teen as his eyes narrowed murderously at the brunet; his eyes managed to catch the last rays of light in the room and it highlighted the bright azure dancing in his pupils. Both knew the bastard's hearing was perfect. And, no doubt, both knew how it had wounded Naruto's pride to say those words, to bare himself to such an extent.

_You bastard... you're just throwing it back in my face and trying to make me look like an idiot!_

The careless words slashed and left his pride bleeding, creating a wound, an infected gash spewing his stupidity; their unmistakably derisive quality replaying over and over again as if to say:

_-better I'm better-_

__-better than **you**-__

"How _dare_ you..." Naruto's voice was soft, faint, but beneath it, a fury was rumbling and causing the words to quake. The animal inside him fractured the walls of its cage and pounced out into liberation and the blond heard, rather than felt, his own voice break the silence with a cracked, shrill:

"You know what, you prick? I'm _not_ sorry about your shirt - you totally deserved that!"

The blonde boy barged past the other youth and violently body-checked the door open. Naruto was absolutely livid. He felt so _stupid_. What exactly had he been expecting? A kind word, maybe? How ridiculous he was. The guy was a complete and utter asshole with no redeeming qualities and Naruto owed him nothing except the burning hatred he was long overdue.

Konohamaru was coming down the stairs as Naruto stormed in. He greeted Naruto with a cheerful smile, but the blond did not notice. Instead, he angrily kicked off his boots and proceeded to tear apart the room, looking for his indoor shoes. Having witnessed the blond's temper on a few occasions, Konohamaru knew better than to offer help. He timidly stood to the side, giving Iruka a warning look when he came to investigate all the noise.

"That fucking asshole! Prick! Son of a bitch, piece of shit, _bastard—_"

Konohamaru and Iruka exchanged apprehensive glances. Theirs was a silent debate over which of them ought to speak first. In the end, both knew that it had to be Iruka. He sighed wearily and prepared himself for the worst.

"—_Fuck you_, Mr. bow-to-me, ice-cold _bitch_—"

"…Naruto?" Iruka said tentatively.

The blond glared at him hotly. "_What?_"

Iruka held his hands up, alarmed. Konohamaru looked hastily from between them, wondering if he would soon be needed as a restraint. For a second, Iruka was too wary to speak. But somehow he still managed to say:

"... pleasant day, I take it?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading Chapter 3!**

**I have written a chapter in less than a month's time. I've been sparing on the interaction between Naruto and Sasuke, so I was trying to get things going in that area!**

**Huge thanks to those who keep reviewing, alerting and favouriting.**_ Narutopokefan_** and **_Akirakun17_** thank you so much for the reviews! I need to hear stuff like that, thanks so much. I'd also appreciate any critical commentary, so if you have the time...you know. Spread the love.**


	4. Revelations and Reservations

**Chapter ****4:  
><strong>Revelations and Reservations

"_They __say __that __blood __is __thicker __than __water, __maybe __that __is __why __we __battle __our __own __with __more __energy __and __gusto __than __we __would __ever __expend __on __strangers_."  
>~ David Assael.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Dear Mr. Uzumaki<em>

_I recently heard that you had somehow purchased the Matsuri Inn. Naturally I knew this to be a falsehood or miscommunication of some kind, but I write to you in the event that you were not aware of this mistake._

_Regards,  
><em>  
><em>Sakumo <em>_Hatake_

* * *

><p><em>Dear Mr. Hatake,<em>

_There has been no mistake – I am currently the owner of the Matsuri Inn, and have been so for six weeks. I appreciate your concern, but it is quite unnecessary._

_Sincerely,_

_Naruto Uzumaki_

* * *

><p><em>Mr. Uzumaki,<em>

_I regret to inform you of the occurrence of a serious misunderstanding. The Matsuri Inn was a part of my personal estate which seems to have been sold without my knowledge, for I had no intention to sell it whatsoever. __The one responsible for handling this transaction – Iruka Umino – has done so without my consent and has evidently caused much confusion. I have carefully considered the nature of our familial relationship. As your caring, devoted and (regretfully, since Nagato's passing) only uncle, I shall treat this matter with some leniency and refrain from appealing to His Majesty to negate the transaction. _

_I apologise on Mr. Umino's behalf, nephew, however I fully intend to regain ownership of my land._

_Regards,_

_Sakumo_ _Hatake_

...

Late that evening, Naruto wrote a furious letter to his aunt, recounting every unnerving detail about her brother-in-law's lack of civility and conspiratorial intentions. Afterwards, he decided to write to Kiba. Though Naruto had sent his friend several letters over the months that had gone without reply, he had a strong desire to make one last attempt to reach him. His letter was kept short and to the point – very unlike his usual notes to Kiba.

It had been almost a year since Kiba had set out on his journey, during which time he and Naruto had maintained correspondence. But now two months had passed without a single note, and Naruto felt thoroughly disheartened. Back in Whirlpool, Naruto had supposed that Kiba had been off undertaking some great quest as an adventurer, a scavenger, maybe even a pirate, which would have undoubtedly prevented their correspondence for a time. Back then, to his sheltered, unworldly mind, those stories of his imagination had seemed terribly ingenious. However, since having arrived in Konoha himself, Naruto had shed such childish notions and was growing increasingly anxious in regards to Kiba's well-being.

Naruto resumed his pacing. He was approaching the kitchen when a light shining beneath the parlour door arrested his attention. Someone else was still awake at this late hour? Curious, Naruto opened the parlour door and peered inside. To his surprise, Sakura Haruno was sitting on the sofa with a book propped on her knee, looking very much awake.

"Have you trouble sleeping, Mr. Uzumaki?"

Naruto tried to ignore the sudden warmth that accosted his face and meekly stepped inside.

"L-Lady Sakura," he stammered, feeling his entire face kindle with heat as she bestowed him with a gentle smile.

"You know my name." she said delightedly, as if her stay, however brief, had not been the talk of the inn for the last couple of days. "But really, you mustn't call me Lady. Just Sakura will do."

"What keeps you up, Lady… ah… Sakura, at this late hour?" Naruto floundered, sure that his cheeks currently resembled two glowing eyes on a stove.

Sakura held up the volume in her hand. "Why, I'm immersed in this book." Naruto watched as her fingers skimmed along its pages, their delicacy fascinating him in ways he did not entirely understand. Her lips formed that illuminating smile once more and his heart melted to his knees as her beauty struck him.

"La— I mean, Sakura…" Naruto began hesitantly. Her large green eyes looked at him and he had to swallow before going on. "Why have you come to Konoha?"

Her smile faded then, slowly, as if recalling something. For a moment she merely looked at him.

"I am… a student of history," she said at last. "A collector of old stories. Sometimes I study the stories of what happened here long ago, here and in other places. Konohagakure has always interested me."

Naruto turned to stare at her. "Stories? Whatever could have happened here to interest someone like— I mean, what happened here?"

Growing up, the blond had clung frantically to gleemen's fairy-tales and make-believe stories. As an illegitimate child, he was used to being the recipient of people's more… unflattering personality traits. People would often dismiss his presence as if he wasn't worth the tiniest glance. Sometimes, at night, the blond would pretend that he was the king's son who had been sent away to live with peasants because of the numerous threats on his life. He would whisper to himself, 'he'll come for me in the morning. He'll come to get me', but when the sun threw its heartless light through the windows, no parent ever did. He'd had desperately yearned for that in the past, but Naruto now accepted that it was a longing that would never be satisfied. And yet, despite himself, excitement still boiled in his stomach at the telling of stories, belying that old craving – the wish that someone would provide him with a definite spot in the world that fit neatly with others' like a missing jigsaw piece does a puzzle.

"As legend goes," Sakura began, "several hundred years ago, this land, now known as the Fire continent, was the birthplace of some extraordinarily gifted people."

"Gifted?" Naruto repeated, suddenly uncomfortable. "You mean like…" his voice dropped until it was but a hesitant alto, " …_magic_?"

Sakura paused, eying him briefly. "For lack of a better word, yes. It is widely believed that Konoha was their village. This tribe was said to be of such gifts that things seen as miraculous today were commonplace to them. However, their powers proved to be too great, and they too foolish in their exercise of it."

Her pale lime eyes suddenly dampened into a darker, emptier hue, and that was when Naruto noticed something truly strange about her: there was a maturity about her large green eyes, a hint of knowing that no one so young should have been in possession of.

"One day, they realised that theycould not control the force they had beckoned," Sakura recited. "It spiraled out of their control, rampaging across the known world, boiling and draining oceans, raising mountains where there were none, flooding dry land and killing countless innocents. This was the creation of the world as we know it today: the continents of Fire, Mist, Wind, Earth and Wave."

The rain beat a heavy staccato upon the window frame and Sakura's vivid eyes became suddenly distant even as she was gazing directly at Naruto. "What happened to the tribe is a mystery in itself. Some argue they met their end back then, others that they were largely destroyed but relocated." Sakura glanced over at him, but quickly looked away, her fine eyebrows knitting closer together. "Either way, they faded into obscurity. Now they are only subjects of myths and fairytales and their Magicks have been lost. If indeed, they ever existed at all."

Sakura fell quiet then and the blond gazed at her, watching as the firelight warmed the ivory hue of her skin. She appeared so regal with her straight spine and loose gestures; it was as though she owned the very air. With a start, Naruto realised he was staring _again_. He tilted his head and distractedly looked at the title inscribed on the open page.

"You're reading ... '_A __Guide __to __Most __Every __Historical __Chronicle_'?" he asked with a grin. "I thought you were trying _not_ to fall asleep?"

Sakura closed the book softly and turned to face Naruto more fully, causing his heart to jerk. "I beg your pardon?"

Focusing his attention back on his guest, the blond expected to find Sakura in the same restful mindset as he was. But, what he discovered was that the lady appeared unexpectedly alarmed, her back straightened almost impossibly.

Naruto blinked, completely confused. Had he said something wrong?

As if sensing his wonderings, Sakura asserted, with a vague inclination towards the book in her custody, "You are able to read this?"

Stealing a look at the book in Sakura's hands, the blond realised at once his mistake. The markings embroidered on its cover were like nothing he'd ever seen. How had he missed that the first time? Naruto's mind jumped to his memory of the study in Lord Orochimaru's townhouse, the one he had stumbled upon, or rather, _into_. He recalled the well-thumbed collections gracing its many shelves… all scribed in the same alien characters as the book before him. The only reason Naruto knew of those books stemmed from his brief association with Lord Orochimaru and, recalling the townsfolk's impression of the doctor at the rally, Naruto decided that man was one acquaintance he intended to steer well clear of. He would definitely _not_ like to be thought of in relation to the old man.

The blond crossed his arms and averted his gaze to the glowing ambers burning in the fireplace. He could tell that Sakura was now staring at him, but resolutely avoided looking back. His mouth muscles twitched with the effort to remain locked in the position of his standard smile.

"Just looks like a load of old nonsense to me."

Sakura looked up sharply, her eyes immediately locking with Naruto's. For an instant he felt like they were deep, green pools about to swallow him up. "That's not nonsense," she said evenly. "That's _kanji_ – one of three main scripts of the Old Tongue. All but a dead language now. Even the most conversant scholars and nobles now know but a few words of it."

Could the loitering quiet that reigned in the room be considered an actual silence? Naruto couldn't tell—it was more like a pause before a shift in direction, like a train that had hit the turning tracks that sent it chugging another way. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable by the way the mysterious statement left a stillness in the room, Naruto became interested in the fire, running an idle eye over the small embers.

"The fire's going out." When Naruto spoke, his voice was soft in the darkness. Sakura was silent as he stood and put another piece of wood on the fire. The flames spat to life again.

"If you'll excuse me Mr. Uzumaki, I believe I might retire for the day," Sakura declared abruptly. She rose from the sofa and crossed the room in her artful, smooth stride.

"Lady Sakura—" Looking up at Sakura's elegant figure once more, Naruto found himself momentarily speechless, stricken with the same lack of confidence in his words as he had experienced earlier.

"Um… goodnight," he finished pathetically.

Sakura's eyes looked like smooth, green marbles as they regarded him thoughtfully.

"Goodnight, Mr. Uzumaki."

* * *

><p>Numerous crystals gleamed in the sunlight from a small marquee littered with various stones. With Iruka in tow, Naruto approached, letting his eyes rove over the shimmering multi-coloured stones. Though he'd always considered jewelry distinctly feminine, he could still admire the simplistic beauty of their design.<p>

"How much for the pendant?" he shouted over the voices of the crowd.

"Three sliver marks."

A skeptical look drew over Naruto's features. "Really? But that man over there is selling the same thing for eight _bronze_ marks."

The short salesman took to Naruto's challenge enthusiastically. "This one here is of much better quality, but I see you have a keen eye. I tell you what – it's yours for ten bronze marks!"

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "I don't see any difference. Ten bronze marks is still too much."

"Ah, but this here is genuine crystal! Look closely!" The salesman shoved the oval stone so close to Naruto's face that all he could see was a light blue blur.

"I _might_ pay seven bronze marks for that," Naruto replied, taking the stone in hand and inspecting it. "But there's something strange about it…this must be a very impure crystal." In truth, Naruto thought it looked very much like a real crystal and was only keeping up the façade in order to bargain down the price. Heckling was a particularly strong point of his - his stubborn nature accommodated such perseverance that he wore down all but the most hardened salesmen.

When he suggested the new price, the salesman looked ready to have a heart attack.

"_Seven_ _bronze __marks_? Impossible!" His voice was clearly audible over the noise of the bazaar. "You are trying to rob me blind, boy! Nine, at least!"

"_No,_ seven." Naruto snapped back.

"Nine!"

"Seven!"

"Eight – final offer!"

"I SAID SEVEN!"

"_Seven _bronze marks_?_" came a deep, sarcastic voice, right by Naruto's ear. "You _are_ generous. I wouldn't pay five for that."

Naruto heard it, but couldn't believe it. Not, that is, until a pale hand deftly plucked the crystal from between his fingers.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed momentarily as he appraised the stone. "This is a piece of glass from the shore. It appears I have overestimated your competence yet again, dobe."

"What's that supposed to mean, bastard?" Naruto growled, snatching the stone back from Sasuke's fingers to look at it again.

"You have no taste," the brunet replied blandly.

Naruto sputtered in outrage, his body tensing with the familiarity of argument. However, Iruka motioned toward the salesman, whose face was in the process of turning several shades of purple. "Perhaps it would be wise for us continue this conversation elsewhere?"

Sasuke nodded and motioned them to follow. It was only trepidation of the salesman's volcanic anger that silenced Naruto's surging indignation at maintaining companionship with the pale boy. He tossed the glass piece back to the salesman before hurrying after Sasuke and Iruka. Sasuke led them easily through the bazaar so easily that it was obvious he knew it well. He took them to a cluster of houses and twisted walkways some distance away from the crowd, walking with swift and precise movements. Naruto had to grab Iruka's arm to keep up with his furious pace. Sometimes Sasuke moved too quickly and Naruto stumbled. However, whenever this happened, the pale boy always caught and righted him before he realised what had happened.

When they finally came to a stop, Naruto released his arm from Sasuke's unyielding grasp with a violent yank.

"What," he wheezed, almost flinching at the breathless frailty of his voice, "_the __hell_ were you doing back there!"

It took a moment, during which Naruto began to seethe, thinking no answer was forthcoming, before the quiet, dry voice floated back to him.

"If you desire an answer then I would suggest you pose that as a question rather than a statement."

Naruto glared up at the brunet and was agitated to see him breathing normally with skin not half so flushed as his own; the blond vaguely wonder what on Earth the pale boy's occupation could be for his cardio to be so excellent. He dismissed the thought immediately. Nothing about the bastard was impressive in the least.

Naruto scowled as he examined and massaged his sore wrist. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, as if the blond was crazy for even _suggesting_ that he would wander the streets without a reasonable course of action. "I had errands to run."

"For the doctor?" Naruto inquired, without thinking.

A disconcerted spasm shot across Sasuke's face. "For myself_."_

Naruto's eyes widened at the words that had been practically snarled in his direction. He frowned, completely confused. Why did Sasuke suddenly seem so _angry_ with him? Was it because he'd mentioned Lord Orochimaru? Naruto recalled his own reluctance to be thought of in context with the man due to the rumours he'd heard at the rally. The sort of reputation that must stem from such an association... Sasuke must have disliked being thought of in relation to the doctor just as much as he had. As the blond realised this, he felt rather tactless.

Beside Naruto, Iruka cleared his throat.

"I'm Iruka Umino," he said loudly over the bustle. "Mr…?"

"Sasuke." The pale boy replied simply.

If Iruka noticed the omission of a last name, he gave no sign of it. "I'm sorry to have to introduce myself, Sasuke but, as you must know, Naruto can be _so_ ridiculous."

"Why, I believe I _do_, Mr. Umino."

Naruto's eyes snapped to Sasuke. His lips were flaunted the most teasing, arrogant, asshole-ish smirk the blond had ever seen depicted on that face.

"Naruto told me you helped him the other day," Iruka went on, approvingly. "Well, I want to thank you. I know how stubborn and hard-headed and just plain _aggravating_ he is sometimes—" The growing amusement that crinkled those black eyes did nothing short of aggravate Naruto beyond bearing, "—but he's really not as asinine as he comes across. In fact, he can be perfectly intelligent and agreeable. He's just not used to Konoha's way of life."

Sasuke nodded at Iruka in mild acknowledgement. This gesture annoyed the blond greatly – it couldn't be more different from how Sasuke had responded when _he_ had first spoken to him.

"That is understandable, I suppose. I trust he is fully recovered?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Naruto's jaw nearly dropped. Not once during that conversation did the brunet's voice drip with sarcasm! On top of that, Sasuke was being perfectly courteous. He had never been nearly that amiable with _him_ before. Iruka chatted with him easily. Not once did the scarred man appear awkward or confused by the pale teen's reactions. On the other hand, the pale boy gave him nothing to feel awkward about.

_Why the change of disposition?_

With growing resentment, Naruto watched as Iruka attentively engaged Sasuke in a light conversation about Konoha.

"… well, certainly it has been bizarrely cold for September. But what with the constant showers, it is so very difficult to take the air regularly, do you not find? I'm sure I have never experienced such an uncomfortable season in all my life."

Sasuke considered the statement with polite interest. "Oh yes…the weather. It _has_ been awful, hasn't it?"

It was _ridiculously_ unfair!

Before Naruto could help himself, his annoyance quickly escalated into outrage. He turned on one foot and stormed back to the bazaar, not caring that Sasuke and Iruka were still talking. Soon, the blond had slipped into a crowd of people and was safely hidden from the other two. His face was brick red; he was positively _fuming_. He turned to see if Iruka had come after him, but did not see the man. This only served to infuriate him even further. With a formidable scowl, the blond kicked at a small puddle with such ferocity that it splashed up and hit him in the face. As a few droplets landed in his eyes, creating a burning sensation, he inwardly screamed at everything he hated at that moment: the puddle_,_ the rain, the Muziki's, Sakumo Hatake and his goddamn family feud, his own illegitimacy, but most of all, one arrogant, dark-haired bastard named Sasuke.

After some time, Naruto found himself at the same booth with the cheap glass pendants. He laughed aloud, wondering if his subconscious had led him here to spite Sasuke. The old salesman was still there, notably gloomier than before. He threw the blond a sour expression as he recognised him.

"Come back to ruin my business again?" he spat.

"No," The blond paused, seeming to contemplate something in his mind before his lips curved into an audacious smile. "I came to buy a piece of glass."

The salesman's expression lightened considerably. "Eight bronze marks?" he offered hopefully.

"_Five_," The blond said firmly, picking up one of the blue gems. As soon as he touched it, Naruto knew it was different from the first – it was longer, more rectangular-shaped and slightly heavier. Upon closer inspection, it seemed more turquoise than any of its brothers. Seeing that the blond was prepared to persist with his bargaining methods, the salesman did not argue. He accepted the teen's coin quickly and then beckoned him to leave. Naruto did not need any more encouragement. As he clenched his fist around the stone the blond felt a strange satisfaction. He hurried away, grinning.

_Yeah, fuck Sasuke. Fuck him to hell._

The bazaar was at the height of business now, and as more people milled toward the collection of marquees Naruto found himself pressed against a sea of faceless shoulders. Once again having to push forcefully past people, it took him the best part of twenty minutes to actually get anywhere near the edge of the market. When he was approximately a yard away from uncrowded territory, he looked over his shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of Iruka.

It was only then that he actually bumped into someone.

Falling clumsily into the stranger, Naruto felt two arms catch him firmly. He jumped at the contact and stumbled immediately out of their embrace.

"Ah! I'm sorry, do excuse my clumsi—Ack! _You_ again!"

Sasuke raised one dark, satirical brow. "Is this how you apologise to everyone you smack into awkwardly?"

Naruto made to push him aside, ignoring the pointless mockery. Spinning on one heel, he began to rapidly steal steps away from the haughty boy.

Sasuke tailed him doggedly. "And just where are you headed with your oversized, misguided parcel of incensement?"

"Why do you care?" Naruto snapped irately. "Did you want something?"

The brunet was watching him blandly, looking as if he would rather be filing his nails than inquiring as to Naruto's endeavor. "Not really."

The blond's aggravation amplified. But no matter how hard he tried, Naruto just could not shake the brunet. It wasn't until they were crossing the Uzunomichi Bridge that Naruto finally acknowledged him again.

"Don't you have anything better to do with your life than harass me?"

"No."

The bland answer made Naruto blink.

"What?"

"No," the pale boy said flatly, staring straight at him. "I don't."

Naruto wavered. He was not sure _how_ to respond to that. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and fidgeted with his new purchase.

Sasuke's expression deepened into one of enormous distaste. "Isn't that the overpriced piece of glass you'd found in the market?"

"Yes it is," Naruto said, regarding the brunet's displeased expression with open enjoyment. "I decided to buy it."

"How much?"

"Five."

"So, you took my advice after all?" Sasuke's tone was annoyingly smug.

"You said that you _wouldn't_ pay five for it," Naruto recalled sharply, glaring. "So technically, I didn't listen to you at all!"

Sasuke rolled his black, sarcastic eyes. "Well then, I stand corrected."

Naruto's face flexed, morphing into a glower once more. Everything the brunet said felt like some sort of backhanded reprimand for the blond being as he was, as if he was at _fault_ for failing to recognise Sasuke as his superior in any way, shape or form. Jaw tightened by aggravation, the blond resumed his irritated pace. After a little while when his shivering refused to subside, he realised too late that his toes had gone numb - he had forgotten how long he'd been outside. This appeared not to have escaped Sasuke's notice, as an all-too-familiar contemptuous voice rolled to him from across the green.

"Why aren't you wearing a cloak?"

The blond looked up, a tick forming on his brow. He couldn't avoid being straightforward with that one. "A palace guard ripped it in half." At that precise moment his body chose to shudder under the frosty air, ruining his show of hostility.

"_What_?" he asked irritably after enduring a few minutes of the other's flat, pointed gaze.

Sasuke cocked his head to the side and smirked. "You're amusing."

"I'm glad you find my freezing to death so very funny," Naruto snapped. "You know what? I know _just_ the kind of thing that would make you laugh. How about I punch your face in? Then we can share some giggles together."

Sasuke's smirk only elongated. The animal inside Naruto began to growl with distaste as he glowered at the supercilious brunet. Then, unceremoniously, Sasuke threw a cloak at him.

"What are you doing?" Naruto screeched incredulously. After all, the pale boy only wore the shoddy, thin garbs of a countryman underneath.

Sasuke merely shrugged, disaffected as ever. "The weather in Konoha isn't nearly as cold as where I am from." And truly, he seemed genuinely unbothered by the cold even though, as Iruka had noted earlier, they were in the middle of the coldest autumn ever recorded. Naruto was so surprised he forgot to be angry for a moment.

As his muscles continued their protest against the cold, Naruto reluctantly pulled the cloak tightly around himself, feeling distinctly un-masculine. "You're such an asshole," he muttered.

"And you remain, as ever, extremely unintelligent, _dobe_."

Instead of yelling as he normally might have, the blond scowled and looked away as he vigorously rubbed his chilly arms. He tried to turn his mind to other things, pretend that Sasuke was not doing… whatever it was that he was trying to accomplish. He might have succeeded too, if Sasuke hadn't decided to start smirking.

"You don't like me very much, do you?"

Naruto twitched, flinching half out of anger at that the dark-haired boy had felt it necessary to voice anything at all. "Not too much, no," he replied curtly, taking advantage of their mutual dislike to glare at the brunet. Sasuke stared back. His dark, ebony eyes reflected the fading light and glinted with something completely unreadable. Naruto pursed his lips, feeling sufficiently bothered for the day. His foot on the inn's doorstep, he was more than eager to escape the peculiar boy's company.

Without warning, Sasuke darted forward.

In one impossibly swift stride, he closed the distance between them and was suddenly standing so _close_ to the blond that their noses were only inches apart; Sasuke's breath was hot and Naruto was distinctly aware of it swirling and stroking the tan skin of his cheeks. The closeness of Sasuke's face felt vaguely familiar and the awareness of this confounded Naruto. But what _truly_ horrified him was his mind's sudden conclusion that Sasuke – his arch nemesis and endless source of misery – was devastatingly handsome.

If Naruto could spear his own brain for coming to such a conclusion, he would have, even if it meant leaving himself in a permanent vegetative state. _Anything_ was better than acknowledging something good about brunet, but once the thought had sprung to life, it wouldn't leave him.

Naruto's eyes widened and his breathing quickened involuntarily as a pallid hand lifted suggestively and reached out.

"Well?" Sasuke drawled nonchalantly, "Aren't you going to give me back my cloak?"

Naruto wanted to shout 'Take it, asshole!' but his vocal chords refused to wiggle out the words. Instead, the blond frantically struggled with the knot - he couldn't help it with his fingers trembling so. His face suddenly engulfed in heat, Naruto wanted so desperately to be rid of the thing that he couldn't calm down.

Rather than waiting, the dark-haired boy reached out and freed the knot with a single pluck, incidentally grazing Naruto's collarbone with his hand as he did so. When Sasuke calmly stepped back, restoring Naruto's personal boundaries, he scoffed.

"Don't get any ideas. You're not _that_ attractive."

Naruto turned white…then red. A _very_ deep red. All the blood residing within the blond flooded into his horrified face at that moment.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about!"

Naruto's pathetic attempt to be dismissive hung shamefully in the air as another haughty smirk smoothed over Sasuke's lips. That stupid, _hateful_ look—

"See you around, _dobe_."

—and with that _infuriating_ smirk still firmly in place, Sasuke left the inn with nothing more than a careless wave. Naruto could only stare, thinking _that __**bastard **_and a shocked _h__e __did __that __on __purpose! _Mortified anger consumed him. Sweet, wonderful words began to fill his mouth as it prepared to launch a heated stream of insults.

"Why, you mother fu—!"

* * *

><p><em>Dear Mr. Uzumaki<em>

_I thank you for your hospitality and hope you will accept these coins as payment. I apologise for not giving them to you in person but, due to a matter of great urgency, I was required to leave immediately._

_I wish you all the best._

_Sincerely,_

_Sakura Haruno_  
>...<p>

"Naruto, I'm so sorry. I should not have left without you earlier today."

"Technically, I left you," Naruto replied to Iruka's words as he mulled over his guest's mysterious note. He had entered Lady Sakura's room to clean, only to find that the bed was already stripped, the used sheets were folded neatly on a chair and the water basin had already been emptied. A small, velvet pouch had sat on the bedside table and, next to it, the note. The pouch had contained fifteen coins, all made of solid gold – never before in his _life _had Naruto seen a gold mark. Even the nobility did not dare carry that kind of coin, and even fewer would give such money to pay for just a few nights at an inn.

"Well, _I_ wanted to go after you," Iruka said, "but Sasuke—"

Instantly Naruto's good humor instantly vanished. At the mention of the hated boy he crossed his arms in defiance as a scowl settled on his face. "Don't even _mention_ his name to me."

Iruka's face took on a curious expression. "I have been meaning to ask you for some time now, Naruto, if you don't mind, but just why do you dislike Sasuke so?"

Describing his feelings for Sasuke as mere "dislike" felt horrifyingly inadequate. However, after thinking about it, Naruto had to admit that to anyone else, his antagonism might've seemed to have come out of the blue. He'd never told Iruka about his run-in with Sasuke before the incident with Lord Orochimaru, wanting to nurse his bruised ego alone.

"Because he's an asshole," he stated simply, believing it to be reason enough.

"I see," replied Iruka, looking thoughtful for a moment before his expression lightened. "You know, when you hate someone that much, the only place your feelings can go is up."

Naruto crossed his arms sullenly. "_Or_ I can just stay on this comfortable plateau hating him with all my guts." He was still finding that he could dislike Sasuke more and more with every single confrontation he had with his insufferable character. "Tch. If I never saw that guy again I could die happy."

"_Sasuke_, huh?"

At the sound of those syllables coming from Konohamaru's mouth Naruto turned around in bewilderment. "_You_ know the bastard, Konohamaru?"

The boy shook his head severely. "I only recognise the name. And it's one _weird_ name – not exactly forgettable, y'know? Anyway, I heard it from some rumours among the lower class merchants."

"They are _ridiculous_, mind you, Naruto." Iruka butted in, "I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear them."

"_In __any __case_," Konohamaru interjected rather loudly, "it was definitely the same name."

"What were some of the rumours?" Naruto asked curiously. He still felt embittered and somewhat offended by Sasuke's smooth interaction with Iruka. Now, realising that he could no longer blame their incompatibility on Sasuke alone, he hoped a third party assessment would prove his evaluation accurate.

Konohamaru lounged back into the sofa. "Well, his reputation is pretty unpleasant, Boss. He—"

"I beg you to consider the unreliability of the sources, Naruto." Iruka cut in.

"He's employed by a man named Lord Orochimaru." Konohamaru continued, raising his voice and shooting Iruka a dirty look as if anticipating another interjection. "Apparently, this… _Sasuke_ acts as a collector on his behalf."

"'Collector'?" Naruto interrupted. Was he supposed to know what that meant?

A dark shadow cast over Iruka's face unexpectedly. It was an ominous sign, but Naruto was adamant for more information.

"Iruka?" he urged, as courteously as he could. Iruka looked down uncomfortably.

Konohamaru gazed at him for a long while before speaking again, as if gauging what reaction would be summoned by his next words. "He… pursues those who are indebted to Lord Orochimaru."

The pair obviously thought this little tidbit of information would be more momentous to the blond than it actually was, as they now emitted the same tentative stare as before.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Care to clarify?"

Apparently, collectors were more or less criminals who had been trained and specialised in torture. In the case of Lord Orochimaru, Sasuke would be used specifically to threaten, harass and maybe even _kill_ those who did not repay their debt.

Iruka's focus immediately shifted back to Naruto. "Again, I beg of you to take this information with a grain of salt. In my opinion, he seems perfectly considerate."

Konohamaru rolled his eyes. "Well if he seemed nice to _you_..."

Iruka's eyebrows furrowed at the boy's impertinent tone, though he said nothing in response. They simply sat alongside each other for a while, wordless until the fire's flames began to dim, restricting the room's light until it seemed parched and thirsty.

"Boss," Konohamaru said suddenly, "can I ask you something?"

" Sure."

Konohamaru peered into the corridor, making sure no guests were wandering around at the late hour. Naruto found himself intrigued by this apparent need for secrecy. When Konohamaru came back to sit next to the blond, his impish demeanor had vanished; he was now somber and very grave.

"Boss," Konohamaru said in a low voice, "are you indebted to Lord Orochimaru?"

Naruto yawned widely from his position curled in front of the hearth and blinked before answering. "What? Why?"

Konohamaru's eyes narrowed. "_Just __tell __me_. Have you ever been the recipient of his… services?"

"Lord Orochimaru tended to me once, when I broke an ankle, but he did not charge me for it..." Naruto trailed off as Konohamaru's eyes seemed to narrow a perilous centimetre with every word he spoke.

"Boss, answer me _truthfully_."

"I'm not lying!"

"Look, they have _very_ strict terms of payment for their services. So _are_ you indebted to Lord Orochimaru? Or Sasuke, for that matter?"

Naruto frowned. "No."

"You're certain?"

"Entirely."

Konohamaru hardly looked reassured upon hearing this. Very much unlike himself, he sighed and leaned back in his seat. Naruto had never seen him openly portrayed his exasperation in such a manner before.

"What the hell does all this have to do with anything, anyway?"

"It's your... association with Sasuke," Konohamaru paused, making a puzzled, tentative sound in the back of his throat, almost as if tasting the thought before molding it into words. "It's very unusual."

"At the very least he seemed to have Naruto's best interests in mind today at the bazaar." Iruka said.

"I'm not convinced of that." Konohamaru intoned darkly, "Sasuke isn't exactly known for his charity."

Iruka huffed and turned abruptly to Naruto. "I'm sure Konohamaru is only trying to frighten you. Please, try to forget what he has said."

Another pointed silence followed and Naruto shifted restlessly in his chair. He didn't much like silence. His home in Whirlpool had always been in a constant state of bustling activity, with household staff milling about at all hours of the day. His eyelids would often close to the boisterous lullaby of urgent maids and angry mistresses going about their chores. Even now, he could not sleep well if there was not some sort of noise carrying on in the background.

Yet that night, despite boisterous sound, Naruto found there was no sleep to be had.

* * *

><p><strong>Absolutely HAVE to thank my reviewers (you beautiful, lovely people!); so I hereby dedicate this chapter to the ever encouraging <strong>_Narutopokefan**,** SUPERANON**,** vladNvedder**,** 0Hina0**,** lady-oichi**,** shadowjewel _**and**_ insignificant. _**It was so _unbelievably_ encouraging to hear those words of support. They made me so happy! **

**Now to answer a question from **_insignificant** - **_**YES! This is most definitely _SasuNaru_ (if the whole 'give-me-my-cloak-back-bitch' scenario wasn't already a slight indication =P) **

****~ Thanks for reading x****


	5. Wolves and Sheep's Clothing

**Chapter ****5:**

Wolves and Sheep's Clothing

"_There are those whose primary ability is to spin wheels of manipulation. It is their second skin and without these spinning wheels, they simply do not know how to function_."  
>~ C Joybell C.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Dearest cousin,<em>

_By now you must be undoubtedly aware that of my father had previously owned your land. Please accept my apologies for not sooner relating this information to you. At the time, I did not think it would be necessary, as such information would only have distracted you from your other affairs._

_When you had first expressed interest in purchasing the inn, my father was only aware that a single person had made a reasonable offer for one of his more derelict properties. He promptly issued his approval in writing, thinking it an excellent opportunity. I believe the selling of the property itself was handled by a subordinate of his, Iruka Umino, who, unlike his superior, was capable of handling the matter fairly despite his knowledge of your illegitimacy. However, my father somehow became aware of rumours surrounding the new owner of the inn, and grew curious. After inquiring into the matter, he discovered your name and unfortunately recognised it at once. Father is now denying ever giving Mr. Umino such consent and is essentially blaming this man for the 'loss' of his property._

_Frankly speaking, Father was extremely displeased that he was unable to inherit the rest of your uncle's wealth. I believe he will take steps to severely inconvenience your ownership if he does not first manage to vacate you from the premises altogether._ _Please keep me informed about your dealings with him – I may be able to remedy some of your misfortunes. Otherwise, do not hesitate to say if there is some other way in which I can help._

_Yours,_

_Kakashi _

* * *

><p>An angry storm presided over Konoha and continued to drag on for four dreary days, neither rain nor fog showed any signs of relenting. Fortunately for Naruto's inn, however, the sudden demand for shelter brought more business than ever. All of his rooms were taken up, which was a first. His belt pouch was also swollen with coins. Another first.<p>

"The king _again_!"

A roll of disgruntled murmuring erupted from the other men and suddenly Naruto was glad he'd left his own dice in his pocket. They had been squatting over the table in the tavern for the past hour, playing at crowns, fives and maiden's ruin, and the blond had won every throw. This was the fifth time in a row that he had thrown the king. Naruto knew he was lucky; certainly, he had always gotten away with a great deal. His memories from Whirlpool country showed him that much - pranks that had seemed sure to fail had always succeeded.

"Nobody can throw the king six times running." Konohamaru's face shifted, eyes narrowing and voice taking on a baiting tone. "_Nobody_. I'll wager those sliver marks of mine on that."

Naruto laughed and shook his head. "It would be far from a far wager. I'll not take your money against those odds."

Konohamaru's eyes glittered as they regarded the twelve bronze marks in the centre of the game. "I mean to take yours."

Grinning, Naruto scooped the dice into the leather cup and rattled it hard. _Luck._ The dice spun across the floor and landed. The king greeted the blond like an old friend.

"My coin!"

"Not yours," Naruto, shoved the coins into his coat pocket, snickering at the ailing look Konohamaru had adopted, "_m__ine_." It made him remember playing a game of dice back home one Yule Festival with Jiraiya, the travelling gleeman; despite being a drunk and a lecher, the gleeman had astounding luck. With a wince, he recalled the strapping his uncle had given him upon learning that he owed the old man four sliver marks and six pence.

"A Demon's own luck," a man muttered in disbelief.

Before Naruto was scarcely aware of moving before he was grabbing the bulky man by the collar, hauling him to his feet and slamming him against the wall. "Don't you say that!" he snarled. "Don't you dare ever say that!"

The man blinked down at him in astonishment; he was a full head taller than Naruto. "Just a sayin'…" he muttered. "Almighty, it's just a sayin'."

Naruto released his grip on the man's coat and backed away. "I… I don't like anybody saying things like that about me. I'm no Demonfriend!"

Gathering his belongings, Naruto briskly walked out of the tavern, leaving the coins where they lay. It was not that he was afraid of the big man; he had forgotten him the man and the coins already. There had been a temper in the city as of late. People who had been neighbours for years were denouncing each other as witches and sorcerers; every night and sometimes even during daytime, the demon's mark was scrawled on doors with a free hand. Most herbalists and hedge-doctors were lying low as in Konoha right now; there was talk against anyone who provided any kind of healing or fortune telling. People were all too willing to forget who'd cured their fevers and poulticed their toothaches in the past, when the frenzied accusations of 'magic' and 'demoncraft' rose up.

Konohamaru followed Naruto outside, no doubt to begin tenaciously arguing for a chance to make good his losses again. The streets were grounds of sleet and the rainfall was threatening to raise the canals of Konoha to dangerous heights. Not many dared to venture outdoors in these perilous conditions and the Matsuri Inn was a far walk from the tavern.

Naruto spotted the tavern's adjoining stable at the same time that Konohamaru said: "We could take shelter in the stable's hayloft. The one here is unlocked and free of animals."

Dust motes shone in the last rays of light of the setting sun streaming in through the stable's doors; the ropes that had once been used to hoist hay bales hung like vines from pulleys on the precarious roof beams. Above their heads, the hayloft was dim in the gloom above. As Naruto scrambled up the ladder, thunder crashed in the sky. Konohamaru quickly followed, appeared at the top of the ladder just as the blond was pulling out a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese from his leather script. They ate to the beat of rain drumming on the roof.

Naruto was lying on his back, staring at the shadowed roof and wondering if the rain would break before morning, when he heard the doors creak open. Rolling to the edge of the loft, he peered down.

A tall, slender woman was muttering to herself as she shook the wetness from her cloak. Her hair was a dishevelled mess and her silk dress – he thought it pale purple and black, but it was hard to tell in this lighting- looked like it had once been fine once, but was now tattered and stained. She hurried to the stable doors to peeked out of the stable doors into the rain. She gave a sudden start and ducked to pull the doors shut, enclosing the stable in darkness. There was a rustling below and suddenly, a small flare of light bloomed in the lantern in her hands.

"She did that quickly," Konohamaru whispered suspiciously, " I didn't hear any flint striking…"

In this light, Naruto could define her features more clearly. She was younger than he had thought, and pretty, with red hair and a small, full mouth that seemed on the verge of a pout. She was an outlander, obviously, with that pale skin.

The girl hooked the lantern on a stall post and dug into her cloak; retrieving a morsel of bread, she knawed at it as if it was hard, but in her hunger, she did not appear to care. Suddenly, she began sniffing the air and Naruto realised she could probably smell the cheese they were in the middle of eating. He was about to stand and announce their presence when one of the stable doors opened again.

Two men walked in out of the rain, doffing their dark, wet cloaks to reveal elegantly decorated pale coats and breeches. The girl crouched, as though preparing to run.

"So, Karin," one of the young men said, with an accent strange to Naruto's ears, "you did not run so fast as you thought."

"Suigetsu. Jugo." She spoke the names as if they were curses, with the same odd way of speech as the man. Their accents reminded him of Sasuke's, precise and every word pronounced to its fullest. "It is not enough that I am dishonoured beyond redemption? Now you cross the Mountains of Mist to plague me."

"The Empress, may she live forever, would hear our names should we turn you over to the Crystal Court," Jugo said.

"Did you believe the Watch would forgive your crimes against the High Blood?" Suigetsu's lips stretched in a cruel mockery of a smile, knife suddenly in hand. "I will enjoy slitting your throat."

Naruto was not even aware of standing up until one of the ropes that dangled from the ceiling was in his hands and he had launched himself out of the loft. _Burn me for a bloody fool! _He had only time for that one frantic thought before he was ploughing through the men, sending them toppling like pins in a game of bowls. The rope slipped through his hands and he fell, tumbling across the straw-covered floor. When he scrambled to his feet, the two men were rising again, this time both with knives in their hands. _Fool! Stupid, bloody fool!_

"Boss!"

Naruto looked up and Konohamaru threw a rusty old pitchfork down to him. He snagged it out of the air just in time to knock the blade out of Suigestu's fist and thump it sharply against the side of his head. Suigetsu crumpled, but the other man was right behind him and for a hectic moment Naruto did all he could, wielding the pitchfork like a whirling staff, to keep the blade away from himself. He rapped knees, ankles and ribs until he was able to land a good blow to Jugo's head.

Konohamaru climbed down from the loft. "When did you learn _that_?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Back home, I used to practice with a man called Jiraiya. He won the quarterstaff at Beltane every year for as long as I can remember, except maybe once or twice when my uncle did." Naruto stared at the fallen men for a moment, and then raised his glare to the girl. "Did you have to choose this stable to be murdered in?"

"I chose this stable because the rain is wet and so am I." Karin hesitated for a moment before slipping a slim-bladed dagger back into a sheath at on her belt, almost as if she anticipated him to turn the pitchfork on her. "I would have helped, but I feared you might mistake me for one of these unshaven _dogs_," she gave Suigetsu a hard kick in the ribs, "had I neared with steel in my hand."

"Why did they want to kill you?" Naruto asked. "They said something about crimes."

Karin drew herself up, slim and proud. "I am Voice to the High Blood, you dare to speak so heedlessly?" Apparently their reactions (a pair of blank stares) were not what she had anticipated. "I am shamed," she continued rather more stiffly, ""but I am not guilty of the crimes which the Watch accuse me of." Suigetsu groaned groggily and Karin gave a start. "I must go now before they_—_ " Abruptly, she stopped in her tracks, before toppling to the ground.

With a start, Naruto hastened to catch her. She was feverish, he noted, and there was a deep, bloody gash on her left arm he had not previously noticed. Her tattered dress was punctuated with numerous dark, glistening patches that evidenced further injury. _What has she been doing?_ he thought incredulously, _wrestling bears?_

Jugo twitched too, as if coming to.

"Time to go, Boss," Konohamaru said. "Else we'll be slitting two throats and maybe spending the next few days explaining ourselves to the palace guards. That aside, Kirigakure folk are strange. Meddle with that lot and you'll get more than just your fingers burnt."

"We can't just leave her like this."

"I'll help anyone who can _pay_," Konohamaru said firmly. "Only fools in stories do something for nothing."

Naruto whistled faintly through his teeth. Just when he thought he knew how hard Konohamaru was, the boy would find some way to show him that he did not know half. "Fine. You go ahead."

Naruto looked down at the girl cradled in his arms. _Now what? _Involuntarily, he recalled the incident at the Uzunomichi Bridge, weeks ago. and was seized by inspiration. He still remembered the way to Lord Orochimaru's dwelling and although reluctant to chance running into Sasuke this girl needed to be treated. The manor was on the outskirts of town, which everyone knew was not a sensible place to be at dusk, even less so when carrying a seemingly lifeless body through the streets of Konoha in torrential downpour. _But when was I ever sensible? The only people I ever met who were sensible all the time were so boring that watching them could put you to sleep._ Summoning up all his determination, Naruto set off.

When he finally reached the grand estate, Naruto ached from the physical strain of fending off attackers and his arms were stiff from carrying Karin so far. He allowed himself a breath before raising his fist to the door, but it opened before he even touched it.

Sasuke stood on the threshold, wearing the most peculiar expression. "Bring her in," he said, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the helpless girl in Naruto's arms. Something unfamiliar lolled in the depths of his dark eyes, subtle but definite, and Naruto struggled to make sense of it. "Shut the door behind you."

Laying her on the couch, Sasuke dropped to his knees beside Karin and lifted the slashed pieces of her silk dress to peer under them. The brunet then turned his attention to her arm, which was angrily red and puffy. "Bring me a vial of Feverfew from my study, a cup and pitcher of water from the kitchen."

Naruto did so at once, relieved that Sasuke saw no need to call for Lord Orochimaru. On his way back to the parlour, desired items in hand, something made Naruto pause mid-step. He stopped just outside the the room and poked his head around the door. Sasuke's hand was on Karin's arm, no ointments or salves at his dispense, and the redness was fading and swelling slowly disappearing under the stroke of his fingers. The sound of Karin's laboured breathing faded to become even and healthy.

"That's it, Karin… slowly. I'm here." Sasuke's voice sounded… different. It washed over Naruto, soft and light like lukewarm water, making his very soul feel nourished and wholesome. Gentle and kind, it sounded like the voice of someone who cared. The exact opposite of what he had experienced so far from the stoic teen. How could something like that possibly come out of the mouth of someone like Sasuke? For that brief moment, it didn't; it felt like a completely different person. Naruto couldn't help but smile as he stepped into the room, because truly, this was the first show of _real_ emotion he had seen from Sasuke.

He handed Sasuke the glass, who held it to the girl's lips and tilted some of its contents into her mouth. Then, with a grimace, he grabbed a nearby cloth and used it to wipe Karin's arm, cleansing away bright red blood and dried black crusts. Naruto gasped, unable to quite believe his own eyes. There was no wound, not even a scar. Only smooth, pale skin to match the rest of Karin's arm.

"Her wound had scabbed, but it was broken." Sasuke jerked his head around, eyes glaring coals against the flush on his pale skin. "You could have killed her, moving her with injuries like these."

The pleasing warmth Naruto was feeling vanished immediately under the contemptuous shadows that darkened Sasuke's stare and his body felt bruised and battered once more. A hysterical, disjoint part of him wanted to laugh, as he stood subject to it, rather wondering what he'd done to deserve such a reaction. _Why is he so **mad**? I don't get it._

"I was only trying to help." he said defensively. "Burn me if I expected to be treated as if I had come to steal a pie!"

"Do you take me for a fool?" Sasuke snarled lowly, appearing in front of the blond so quickly that Naruto didn't even see him move. "You're expecting some kind of payment."

The denial was ready to spring from Naruto's lips, a simple "Fuck you!" waiting patiently for his brain and mouth to connect, but he was so perplexed by Sasuke's sudden flashfire anger that he was unable to produce the necessary sounds.

"Don't you _dare_ think I'll stand for being indebted to you," Sasuke continued viciously, "You aren't the first to try and win my favour. Tell me your price and be done with it."

Naruto pushed back the funny tickle in his throat and stood his ground with his fists clenched at his sides, chin held high. He was keenly aware of just how _close they were _and it made his heart thump savagely in his chest, his breathing shorten. In the dim lighting, Sasuke looked dangerous, with his high cheekbones and tilted eyes. Distantly, Naruto felt the animal within him stir, wicked, gleeful and horridly amused. _So angry and it's all my fault._ The tightness in Naruto's belly was suddenly_ too warm _and distantly he knew he should stop to think about that because—

"What the _fuck_ is your problem?" The animal snarled, baring its pink gums, filling Naruto with anger so hot he felt his breath catch. "I did my _damned best_ to help your friend! Well, you may rest easy, because if being your creditor means dealing with your _despicable_ personality then I'd rather be without!"

Sasuke's silence flooded the room like a mist, thickening and chilling. Even in anger his stance was elegant, almost majestic. It demanded a certain respect, and it occurred to Naruto that maybe this was the real, raw Sasuke beneath the mocking pretense—forceful and domineering.

"Then get out of my _sight_." Sasuke finally snarled.

His next words dropped down Naruto's back like ice:

"_Because you're not worth my time_."

Naruto's swinging fist missed the pale, unblemished skin by a hair. He pulled back with a jerk and stood there, shaking. "Fuck you," he growled, clenching his teeth so hard his jaw ached, "you stupid, fucked up bastard! Fuck you!"

—and he left wthout a fight. Heavy, angry footsteps carried him to the door, fury overpowering any other emotion he might have felt. He was hardly even aware of himself as he slammed the door shut behind him with such ferocity that it shook precariously on its hinges.

Outside, the rain was falling harder than ever, but Naruto was so incredibly _furious_ that he hardly noticed it as he stormed back to the inn. Every time he tried to do a bit of good in this wretched city, its citizens mocked him, chipped, knawed and exploited any sense of decency he had! He was so mad, so confused, but it was what _Sasuke_ had said that dug deeper than anything else.

_I'm **worthless**?_

Naruto felt abruptly isolated at that moment. Did fairness even truly exist? Or was it just a delusional fantasy inspired by his uncle? Up until now, Naruto had kept _going_ because it was all he could do. But now, he was beginning to understand that this was the sort of life that existed in Konoha, and probably in many other places as well. It was a humbling realisation to come to, especially at the hands of someone like Sasuke.

"If I ever look like I'm about to play hero again," he said sourly to Konohamaru as he dropped onto the couch, "kick me."

"Why? What would you have done differently?"

"_Just kick me_!"

* * *

><p>On any other night, Kakashi Hatake would have been sitting quietly at his desk amidst a dozen towering bookcases. On that particular night, however, he was able to get very little reading done. Only a few hours had passed since midnight when a disgruntled manservant knocked on the door, announcing the arrival of a guest.<p>

"Who is it?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, my Lord," the servant related. "He is a young man with the most peculiar colour of eye and hair. A southlander, by the look of him, though speaks like a northlander."

"I see." Kakashi put away his book. Only one man he knew fit that description. "Bring him in."

"Yes, my Lord."

According to second hand accounts, Naruto Uzumaki was something of a byword in his village. Few people had escaped his pranks. Now, his name came up whenever a washing line dropped laundry in the dirt or a loose saddle girdle deposited a farmer on the road. Cunning mind perhaps, but a naïve country boy all the same. _And not aware of the world at all. _

Kakashi motioned for his cousin to sit down on the sofa by the large, ornate hearth. Within seconds the servant was back, with an offering of tea.

"I'm so sorry, cousin, to intrude on you at this untimely hour." Naruto's face was as ghostly white as his tan skin would allow and his thick, blond hair a tangled mess. "After writing so many times, I became familiar with this address and I_—_"

"Do not worry about that now." Kakashi was conscious of the manservant standing nearby. Quiet as always in his presence, but always watching and listening. "Take your time with that tea, why don't you?"

Naruto could barely keep the cup steady as he raised it to his lips. When he set it back down on its platter, it clattered loudly. "Someone broke into my inn an hour and a half ago."

Kakashi could sense the servant's ears twitching thoughtfully. "Leave us. I would talk to my cousin alone."

"As you wish, my Lord." The man paused in his retreat only to execute a deep bow. Kakashi had difficultly keeping his features unruffled. No doubt that particular piece of information would be the talk of all the common rooms by tomorrow morning, known to ten Houses by midday, and all of them by nightfall.

Naruto stared down at the twisted, white knot of fingers in his lap before continuing. "He attacked me and we struggled. He…" The blond paused to swallow. "He suffered a grave injury."

Kakashi made his tone more conversational. "Your intruder is still alive, then?"Naruto shivered, as though he felt the night's icy winds on the back of his neck, and gave the barest shake of his head. "I see..." An unforeseen trifle, but a worrisome one. "Is he still at the inn?"

Naruto slowly nodded. "He... he looked so _ordinary_."

Kakashi was silent for a few moments. _Consider the situation from all angles._ "Does anyone else know?"

"I… I don't think so. "

"Alright," Kakashi said. "I will send some men to collect the body immediately. Now, tell me _exactly _what happened."

"It started this evening," Naruto shifted anxiously in his seat. "I woke because I thought I'd heard something. I… went downstairs to check. I found nothing suspicious so I made to go back to bed…" His voice grew tight, as if he were forcing himself to speak.

_At first__,__ he__'d__ thought the faint footsteps behind him were the echoes of his __own __boots on the wooden flooring. Then__,__ he realised __that it was __someone following him__,__ trying to be stealthy._

_He turned from the staircase railing and suddenly became aware of a man sharing the hallway with him. A man with a dagger in his hand. _

_Naruto grabbed at the hand as the knife darted toward his throat. He barely caught the fellow's wrist with his fingers before he __was __tripp__ing__, falling back half over the low-rise banister__ and__ pulling the other man on top of him. Balanced there on the small of his back, teetering with his assailant's bared teeth in his face, Naruto was as aware of the long drop under his head as he was of the blade catching the moonlight as it edged toward his throat. His grip on the man's wrist was slipping, __his__ other hand caught between their bodies. _

_Only seconds had passed since he first saw the man and in __mere __seconds, he was going to die with a knife __through__ his throat._

_"Time to gamble__,__" __h__e grit from between clenched teeth. He thought __an instant of confusion might have passed over the other man's face, __, but an instant was all he had. With a great heave of his legs, Naruto flipped them both off __the railing, __into the empty air. For a stretched-out moment__,__ he __was weightless. __ Air whistled past his ears and ruffled his hair. He thought he heard the other man scream, or start to__, before__t__he impact silenced him._

_The landing knocked all the air out of Naruto's lungs, leaving sliver-black flecks __dancing__ across his blurring vision. When he could see and breathe again, he realised he was lying on top __of his attacker__, that his fall had been cushioned by the other's body. Naruto's sharp, irregular breathing rang __loud __in his ears as he forced himself to his feet to check the fallen man - his knees were shaking so hard that he could hardly walk.__ He had expected the other man to be unconscious and injured – not many could remain unharmed after a second floor fall with another man's weight on top of him - but what he had not expected to see was the fellow's dagger driven to the hilt into __its owner's heart._

_Naruto clamped a hand to his mouth, trying not to retch. __He__ experienced a moment of utter terror when he realised he was standing over a dead man with a dagger in his chest, just waiting for a guest to come along and run screaming for the palace guards._

"Luck," Naruto murmured shakily, "I'll be damned if it's not good for more than dice. But that man…" He licked his lips nervously. "His actions weren't those of a man looking for a vault of gold."

Kakashi's eyebrows lifted in surprise before he caught himself and smoothed his features. _Not aware of the world? I am a fool._ "You have been through quite an ordeal tonight, cousin, but at least you are safe. We will speak more tomorrow, after you have rested. I will have a room prepare for you. I'll have no argument. It is dangerous to wander the streets at this hour."

Kakashi sat at his desk for a long while after Naruto had retired. It was exactly as he'd thought. His cousin's attacker had been hired specially by someone to perform this disreputable deed. He briefly considered the value of informing his cousin of his suspicions. It was said that Whirlpool people were a stubborn breed; they could be led if they thought someone worthy, but the harder they were pushed the harder they dug their heels in.

By all accounts, Naruto Uzumaki was as stubborn as a mule.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Naruto,<em>

_Lord Kakashi has just informed me of the break-in. It disturbs me greatly to realise how limited your security is!_ _I ask to become your full-time working assistant. My only condition is that I will accept no increase in my wages. I also write to confess that I have not been entirely truthful with you. I was, in fact, hired by Lord Kakashi to ensure that your application for the Matsuri Inn would receive a fair evaluation. I did my best to keep your ownership from the knowledge of High Lord Sakumo. Evidently, I __have __failed in this responsibility and ask for your pardon. _

_I sincerely hope this dishonesty will not greatly __affect__ your opinion of me. I understand, however, if you decide that I am no longer fit to be your employee._

_Best wishes,_

_Iruka Umino._

**...**

The halls of Kakashi's keep were constructed of smooth, stone walls, sparsely decorated with elegantly simple tapestries and painted screens. Servants in black and gold darted about their tasks, running to prepare rooms or carry orders from the kitchens. Occasionally, they would speak as Naruto hurried past.

"Ah, there you are, Lord Uzumaki. On your way to clean up? You'll want to look your best when you are presented to the young Lord."

"Will you stop calling me that!" Naruto shouted. From the moment he had become a guest of the manor it was suddenly _Lord this_ and _Lord that_. The household staff bowed every time he so much as looked at them and even now, they looked ready to perform any task he might request.

"As you wish, my Lord."

It was an effort for Naruto not to sigh. "I'm sorry. I should not have shouted at you, but I am no lord." _I've more respect for myself than that._

"It's your right, my Lord," the man said simply. "If I don't do the way you want, it's your right to shout."

It took all of Naruto's willpower to stop himself from grabbing the man's collar and shaking him. He had received Iruka's letter that very morning and had not been able to shake his agitation since. It seemed that Kakashi thought him incapableof handling the situation, like he needed things done for him! Well, he was no child, and certainly not afraid of hardship. _I don't think I__'d__ ever hurt another human being before, and this morning I woke having beaten two and killed one!_

Naruto trotted up the broad staircase, wide enough for twenty men abreast, which led up to the men's apartments. He dashed through the wide, iron-bound doors, into the room he had occupied the previous night…

And froze.

The guest room was filled with women, all purposefully working. It was a large room and its windows, wide arched and looking down onto one of the inner courtyards, made it appear even larger. Even so, the women seemed to be crammed in the space like fish in a basket.

"What are you _doing_?" Naruto demanded.

One woman sniffed and poked a finger through a tear in the sleeve of his only coat before adding it to the growing pile on the floor. Naruto thought of the sharp-faced woman as a housekeeper, though the house she kept was a fortress and scores upon scores of servants worked under her instructions. "Lord Hatake thought your clothes were worn out and had new made to give to you. He said to remove all the old. Every stitch. Smallclothes too."

Several maids eyed him sideways. None moved toward the door. Naruto scowled. "If you wait _outside_ I will pass the rest to you."

A few women gave soft chortles, and even the housekeeper's lip twitched, although she complied and directed the other women towards the doorway. She was the last to leave and paused on the threshold to add: "The boots, too. The young Lord said everything."

Naruto flashed her the grin he used on his aunt when he especially wanted her to believe him. "Of course, Mistress," he said sweetly, then pushed on the door, forcing her out.

Alone, he dropped onto his bed to tug off his boots before hastily stripping off. The wardrobe had three wide doors, carved in the elaborate Konohagakure manner. Pulling open the centre door, he stared for a moment at what was to replace his modest attire. Two cloaks. Two, when all of his life he had made do with one at a time! One was plain, stout wool and dark orange, the other deep blue with a stiff-standing collar, embroidered with gold. A shirt for each cloak, both linen and silk with wide sleeves and high cuffs_—_

A rap at the door sent him leaping half out of his skin.

"Are you done?" came the housekeeper's voice. "Every stitch now. Perhaps I had better…" A creak, as if she were trying the doorknob.

With a start, Naruto realised he was still naked. "Don't come in!" He hurriedly gathered up what he had been wearing and hiding behind the door, opened it just wide enough to shove the bundle into her arms. "That's everything."

She tried to peer in through the gap. "Are you sure? Perhaps I had better just look_—_"

"That's everything!" he growled. Her lips twitched on the edge of a smile and Naruto glowered as he shouldered the door shut in her face. He thought he heard laughter from the other side. _Women!_

Muttering under his breath, Naruto dressed quickly. He would not put it past them to find some excuse to come storming in again. With that in mind, he marched straight into Kakashi's study and told him that he'd decided to return to his inn right away.

"Are you sure?" Kakashi looked faintly surprised. "It is no imposition on us for you to stay here longer. Besides, I am not entirely convinced that you have fully regained your health."

"Thank you for your kindness, but I'm sure these intrusions are just what happen in a large city."

Kakashi considered him thoughtfully before crossing his arms. "May I be frank with you, cousin? I think your inn was purposely targeted."

A silence fell upon them and stretched.

Naruto felt dizzy when the startling implications of those words hit him. "Sakumo wouldn't dare do something so drastic. Least of all to his own relative."

"You underestimate him."

"What do you mean?" Naruto demanded with a frown. "Are you saying that Lord Sakumo Hatake, High Commissioner to the _King_, would resort to such underhanded tactics to win back a small bit of property such as my inn?" Kakashi's meditative silence persisted. "I don't believe it." Naruto shook his head decisively. "A man of his position wouldn't risk doing something so illegal."

"I assure you that my father takes full advantage of his relationship with the King."

"I don't understand," Frustration was mounting under Naruto's skin. "I've done nothing to make an enemy out of him."

Kakashi sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Doing nothing was always a ploy in the Game of Houses, especially as they play it now."

"Game? What game?"

Kakashi sighed again, more deeply with exasperation. "It isn't a _game_ at all, cousin. The noble Houses constantly manoeuvre for social and political advantage. They do things they think will help them, or hurt an enemy, or both. Usually it's done in secret, or if not, they make as if they're doing something else entirely."

"But I've nothing to do with the nobility!"

Kakashi shook his head. "_Everyone_ in Konohagakure plays at least some version of the Game, common folk included. Nothing here is as it seems; everything has a deeper meaning, everyone an ulterior motive. No doubt everyone you meet believes the same of you, Father included. Look underneath the underneath in everyone and everything. You must remember that, cousin, if you wish to prosper here."

The argumentative side of Naruto's nature wanted to deny it, but thinking back on his own experiences since arriving in Konoha, it was difficult to construct a refute. The Mizuki's had offered to take him in only in order to fleece him out of money they thought he had inherited, and while he wanted to believe otherwise, Konohamaru probably only stuck with him while he could provide a roof over his head. Even Iruka, the sole person who Naruto had thought reliable, was supporting him on Kakashi's _orders_, and for a meagre property lawyer, no doubt an affiliation with a House as powerful and noble as Hatake came with innumerable advantages.

(. . . _only fools in stories do something for nothing. . .) _

"But _I _am not playing the stupid Game!" Naruto's voice was rapidly gaining volume. "I'm just an innkeeper!"

Kakashi motioned to the manservant. "That will be all I require of your services tonight. Thank you." The man backed out of the room with a bow. After the echoes of his footsteps had died down, Kakashi turned back to the blond with a grimace on his face. "Please don't do that again. You've likely just convinced him and the rest of the household that you _are_ in some deep part of the Game. It must be, as he'll see it, if you deny playing it at all."

Naruto gaped. "But that's _insane_. It doesn't even make any bloody sense!"

"That's the way of it," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly. "The Game can be dangerous anywhere, but even more so in Konoha, and especially for you. Father has always resented you because of your illegitimacy, believing it to be a most detestable tarnish on House Hatake's honour and an impediment to his advancement. Believe me, if you'd been capture by your intruder, you'd have been beaten, tortured, and most likely sold off as a slave, if not killed. And you _still_ insist on taking this man lightly?"

The weight of that statement settled on Naruto's chest, making it suddenly difficult to breathe.

There was a brief knock at the door before it was suddenly yanked open. The manservant from earlier stood in the doorway, rocking with eagerness and pushing his tray in Kakashi's direction. "Forgive me, my Lord," he said breathlessly. "I could not wait until you came down…" He jiggled the tray in emphasis.

Kakashi took the tray but hardly glanced at the impressive heap of letters on it. "Thank you for taking the trouble. If you'll excuse us now, please."

"But my Lord! These are from_—_"

"Thank you." Kakashi pushed the man into the hallway and pulled the door firmly shut behind him. He tossed the parchments onto the desk carelessly.

Naruto frowned. "Was he listening at the door?"

Kakashi grinned crookedly. "Now you are starting to think like a Konohagakureman. And yes, most likely. These, cousin, are invitations."

"May I remind you, my _Lord_," Naruto barked, suddenly very irritated by his cousin's nonchalant change of subject, "that some us have more _pressing_ matters to worry about than prowling through ballrooms night after night, looking for a spouse with a suitable dowry." He snatched up one on the sealed parchments and all previous traces of frustration flaked off him like dry mud as he gazed, wide-eyed, at the seal. "This… this is the seal of House Sarutobi!" His voice dropped in awe at the next parchment. "House Hyuuga! This is the House of the _King_!"

Kakashi waved him away. "And a more bitter rivalry you will be hard pressed to find. House Sarutobi held the throne once, and now they want it back. The King would crush them if they weren't so powerful. Burn these and you make as powerful enemies as you can; accept either and both houses will think you part of some plot against them by the other. They'll use the knife and poison as easily as they'd look at you."

Naruto stared. Kakashi spoke as casually as if he were talking about the weather! "These people are crazy."

"Any suggestions as to how to avoid either of them wanting to see me dead?" The man smiled. _Smiled!_

Naruto was well aware that his knowledge and experience were inferior to that of his cousin's, but he tried to meet Kakashi's gaze with the same intelligence and understanding that he had been shown.

"You have explained that in this… game," he began uncertainly, "if I go, wherever it is I am invited, Konohagakuremen will read into it and think I am part of some elaborate plot, or plotting something myself. If I send back an invitation they will dig for meaning in it and the same if I don't. And since half of Konoha apparently spies on the other half, everyone knows what I do."_ Look at it from every angle. Half of the trouble I get into is from not doing just that. I have to think._ "I would let myself be seen in a public place with the invitations… but with their seals unbroken. That way, they will know that I have not answered either one yet. As long as they are waiting to see which way I'll jump… it could earn me a few days to figure something out."

Kakashi's face was expressionless for a moment. "As tricksome as a cat, our aunt once wrote to me of you," he said, suddenly grinning, "and I think she is right."

Naruto scoffed. "That aunt of mine, always bragging about me." He shook Kakashi's hand in thanks. "Thank you for this warning and for everything you've done. I promise to be be more careful from now on, but I must return to my inn."

Kakashi remained seated, but gave a cheery wave as Naruto departed. "Feel free to bother me any time," he called after him loudly, "...especially during unusual hours!"

Later that afternoon found Naruto staring at the inn's entrance in dismay. The front door had been roughly nailed back onto its frame and was held in place with wooden boards. A block of cement, that hadn't been there before, was lying lying in front of the entrance. Vaguely, Naruto wondered if the intruder had used this block to break in. But still, none of this was the reason _why_ he looked on the front entrance of his inn with such dismay.

Sasuke was reclined casually against the inn's wall as if he owned it, as graceful in repose as any other would be dancing. His inexpressive, black stare was latched solely on Naruto.

On impulse, Naruto reached into his belt pouch; his fingers brushed against his purse as he reached for the pair of spotted dice nestled snugly alongside it. Bringing his clenched fist up, he opened his palm and gazed upon the six pips that winked at him from both dice - the Demon's eyes, that was called. It was a winning toss in some games, a losing toss in others, and it made him wonder.

_What game are you playing, Sasuke?_

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><p><strong>AN: BAM! Another incredibly long chapter (hope the 'politics' weren't too boring)!  
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**Luuuurve my reviews from _Narutopokefan_, _Fireotaku18_, _operagirl76, 0Hina0, Jessica, Abbys_ and_ Rikado_! You're amazing readers and I appreciate!  
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**Cheers! Love! Review!**


	6. Epiphanies and Prisons

**Chapter 6:  
><strong>  
>Epiphanies and Prisons<p>

_ "Epiphany is an unveiling of reality. Epiphany interrupts the everyday flow of time and enters as one privileged moment when we intuitively grasp a deeper, more essential reality hidden in things or persons."  
>~<em>Czeslaw Milosz, A Book of Luminous Things

* * *

><p>Sasuke looked as though he had been outside for a long while. He was dripping with rain, and his raven hair was soaked flat against his head. The wide hood of his cloak hung about his shoulders unused, almost as if he had forgotten its existence.<p>

Naruto regarded the pale boy with deep suspicion. "Why are you here?"

"I go where I wish to be, and this is a public place." Sasuke replied blandly. "But, if you must know, I was thinking and ended up here."

"Thinking?" It wasn't as if it was unusual, lots of people took a stroll while thinking, but Naruto had never thought Sasuke was capable of doing something so...normal.

"Yes. Thinking. You should try it some time."

Naruto glared, wrestling his gut reaction to punch the pale boy in his pretty face. "You know, you're a real dick and I'm about two seconds from kicking you the hell off my property if you don't answer me. Why are you here?"

Sasuke stared at him lazily, but Naruto felt that his eyes were oddly dark and intent. "We never finished our conversation from before."

"Conversation?"

"The one we were having in my study." His eyes darkened as they drifted over his figure. "I've never seen you dress like this before."

"And?" Naruto seethed, feeling slightly put off by the abrupt conversation change. "Since when did you see fit to concern yourself with my wardrobe?"

"A gift from your cousin, no doubt..." Abruptly, Naruto's stomach bottomed out. _How the hell does he know about Kakashi? _"... but I suppose it makes more sense. An outlander of seemingly modest means, securing a property in the otherwise xenophobic capital of Konohagakure…why, it barely begs belief." His dark eyes glistened like polished obsidian. "Having established that your cousin is noble born, it is only reasonable for me to assume that you too are noble born…"

"I am _not_ noble born!" Naruto blurted passionately before he could stop himself. "I most certainly am not one of those 'Lords' or 'nobles', with their noses stuck so high in the air that they can hardly see where they are stepping!" He eyed Sasuke cautiously as he began to close the distance between them. The memory of Sasuke's face glowering so close to his own was still fresh on Naruto's mind. Even if it had been a few days, he didn't think the moment would ever lose even a pinch of clarity.

(. . . _get out of my sight_. . .)

(. . . _because you're not worth my time_. . .)

The brunet sure knew how to use his words and Naruto had absolutely no intention of getting near them or their owner ever again. Sasuke seemed to have noticed this aversion too, for his features looked slightly bemused.

"Is there any reason why you seem so adverse to me being anywhere near you this day?"

"I am simply wary of your…_intentions_."

"Hm. I suppose that is fair."

Naruto blinked and, for the slightest instant, he found himself captivated by the way a droplet of water that had run down the pale boy's nose, how it perched upon his pale lips. "What?"

"I said, 'I suppose—"

"I heard what you said!" Naruto snapped, ignoring Sasuke's sudden boyish smile, "I only meant to ask what on earth you meant by it." He took a steadying breath. _I need to know what game I'm playing if I'm going to win. _"Is it compensation you want? You are Lord Orochimaru's collector, after all."

Sasuke's dark eyes danced with amusement. "How positively prejudice. What exactly do you presume to know?"

"I know that flesh wounds don't heal in a matter of minutes," Naruto's eyes darted between the throngs of people walking by, almost anticipating one of them to unexpectedly hurl a knife his way, "…let alone without any scar tissue. I know that herbs and salves can't heal broken ankles overnight."

Sasuke cocked his head, his signature smirk ever widening. "Is that why you appear to be cowering in such a manner?"

"I am not _cowering_," Naruto snapped defensively, though his foot stole an instinctive step backwards.

_(. . . have you ever been the recipient of his… services?)_

"_You can use magic_!"

_(. . . If you drink from a bottle marked 'poison' it is almost certain to disagree with you sooner or later. . .)_

A flicker of fear suddenly flared through Naruto and he felt his confident demeanour shatter all around him. "Get off the hell off my property."

"Don't be stupid. I'm not going to hurt you."

"I said get the hell off my property! Get the hell off my property right now, or I'll call the palace guards!"

Sasuke's face sharpened. Friendliness sloughed off it like an old snakeskin. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm warning you, if you don't leave now—I'll scream my lungs out!" His voice far exceeded conversational volume, but Naruto didn't much care if passersby heard him anymore with Sasuke defiling the space between them slowly, but surely. Naruto felt like the animal trapped inside his stomach, cornered with nowhere to run. _Wait… run!_ Concentrating all his strength to his legs, Naruto ran, his feet carried him forward at a hasty speed as he passed the entrance to the inn, and then approached the mouth of the alley where he dumped the garbage on Tuesdays. Faintly, he heard someone shout his name, but he didn't even turn his head. A gust of wind howled across the green just as he was about to escape through the alley—

… and trapped him. Time and motion came to a halt; horrified, Naruto tried to lift his arm, but it did not budge anymore than if he were buried to his neck in solid concrete. It was as if the air had jelled, holding him in a cocoon a pace above the ground. He could only gaze wildly into calm, black eyes as Sasuke rounded the corner.

"Useful, wouldn't you say, dobe? And it is nothing but Air."

_This isn't happening._ Naruto felt hollow until panic welled up inside him. A man was channelling magic and he was caught up in it. _What do I do? What **can** I do? _A sense of animal panic made his brain feel as though it was crumbling away to bits about him. His logic and his ability to think and understand situations were gently fluttering to the ground. He had never been faced with such a situation like this. His mind screamed frantically.

"Release me!" Naruto grated. His eyes glared, and his head jerked from side to side, but the rest of him sat as rigidly as a statue. For several unbearable minutes he wrenched and wiggled, but not one muscle would budge. A rush of frustrated tears burned the back of his eyes. He shut them quickly, damming the stream that was pleading to fall. "Burn you! Let me go, you asshole! If I could right now, I'd beat you stupid!"

"Always so aggressive."

"You're full of shit!" The blond squawked furiously as Sasuke approached until he was mere inches from his fastened figure.

"Then perhaps we have something in common after all."

Naruto arched his neck painfully, futilely trying to retain some sort of distance from the dark-haired boy. "I've got nothing in common with someone like _you_!" he spat hatefully. He knew better than to mouth off in a situation like this, dangling helplessly as a basket, but when he saw the pale boy stood there before him, looking so smug and triumphant, his careless lips could not bear to remain inert. "Why should I hide you, or _what you are_? A Shinobi gift is bait for fish' - well, maybe I don't want to put the hook in my mouth!"

"Shinobi? I?" Sasuke had a wry twist to his lips. "Hardly that."

"Who are you? If you're not Shinobi, what are you?"

Sasuke's smile hid secrets. In the glow of the afternoon sun his porcelain skin appeared almost too sterile against the grimy brick walls of the alley. There was an air about him –self-confidence, a surety in his own power to match any King's, and something… more. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha and I enjoy science and hot green tea. I was born in the capital of Kirikagure, that's the lands beyond the Mountains of Mist—"

"_I know where Kirigakure is_!"

"—as for what, now that's a bit more difficult to explain. Let us just say that I am someone whose interests coincide with yours."

Naruto let out a long breath. Sweat ran down his face. "The truth a Shinobi tells is never the truth you think it is."

Sasuke's smirk evened out into a displeased frown. "You have any more old sayings you want to rid yourself of? A fools words are dust?' What about 'a pig painted gold is still a pig?' I do not belong to the Hidden Village. I do not owe allegiance to any but myself."

Naruto viciously shook his head. "Bullshit! I don't believe you!"

"Whether you choose to accept it is your own business entirely."

_"_Everyone seems terribly scared of being in 'debt' to you. How do you explain that if you aren't Shinobi, asshole?"

Sasuke rolled his dark, tilted eyes and sighed, an infamous partnership that seemed to act perfectly on his face. "As you know, there are those who are born in this world with an innate ability to sense and yield chakra. This leads them to use magic, whether they wish to or not. I do not claim to know a great deal about the motivations of the Hidden Village – not many can – but I do know that they systematically seek out and train those gifted in magick. However, there are some who, without any training, manage some rough control- random, and barely enough to be called control, but still control of a sort." Sasuke scratched his chin absently. "Wildlings, that's what the Hidden Village calls them. These are people who have no connection to the hidden villages. They live outside the Shinobi oaths and do not wish to have it otherwise."

"Like you?"

"Like me." Sasuke confirmed in his usual sarcastic tones.

"How do I know to trust you any more than I can them?"

"By listening to what they tell you, but more importantly what they do not. Will they tell you that your aunt came to Konohagakure?"

Naruto looked up sharply. "My aunt was here?"

"A woman named Konan Uzumaki. She made a nuisance of herself until she gained an audience, I have heard, wanting to know where you were, and Iruka Umino sent her back to Whirlpool with empty hands. Would he tell you that unless you asked? Perhaps not even then, for you might try to run away back home."

Naruto waited for more and clenched his jaw irritably when it didn't come. "And?"

"And I'm not sure your cousin would much approve of that. He means to use you for something."

"Use me?" Naruto said sharply. "What do you mean?" _I'm no one important. I'm no use to anyone but myself. I'm just an innkeeper! They've no bloody use for me. They can't have!_

Sasuke shook his head, almost as if reading the blond's thoughts. "You are more important than you yet know. Certainly more important than these so-called nobles know. You would do well not to trust them."

_You certainly sound as if you don't trust them._ "You say a lot, but how do I know any of it is true?"

Sasuke glanced over at him, clearly agitated. "Because I have always believed men perform better when convinced rather than forced. I admit I will use you – you have too suspicious a nature for me to deny it. But these people will never do that. They will keep you tied to a leash." He paused for a moment, his glossy black pupils sizing the blond up. "Look at you. You're so _vacant_. Tell me, is it nice being an idiot? It must be so relaxing."

Naruto growled at Sasuke, who smirked in return.

"Regardless, we need to talk, and I'd prefer it if you didn't act like a frightened little girl and try to run again when I release you. It is in neither of our interests should we attract ourselves a Shinobi guest."

The words were enough to physically cool Naruto. "I-fine." Nothing changed that he could see, but he suddenly felt a slight chill and goosebumps pricked at his skin; the air the seemed to thin around him and he had just enough time to let out a yell before he dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

Sasuke snickered, but, surprisingly, it was not demeaning. It seemed more light. "Here, give me your hand."

"I don't need your help!" Naruto snapped, cheeks aflame. That would destroy the last piece of dignity he had in this situation. He kept his face expressionless as he shifted the way he sat, just a fraction. "We both know it unreasonable for you to sacrifice your time when there is nothing to be gained! God forbid I should put us back on uneven ground. "

Sasuke simply stared, his eyes gleaming. "Are you quite finished?" He strode forward in his artful, smooth gait and latched onto Naruto's wrist. Naruto howled, twisting his wrist in the frighteningly strong clutch as Sasuke forcefully jerked him up.

"What the hell!" Naruto snatched his wrist free and rubbed at the red blotch. "I said I didn't want your help," he snapped, glaring heatedly at the other, "I've _never_ asked for your help!"

There was a scowl before Sasuke looked away again, impatient with the blond. "I never meant to be your creditor, moron."

"What did you mean to be, then?"

"Specifically, I meant for nothing. If I rendered you a service, it was only because I saw no harm invoked by my doing it." Sasuke's mouth tightened suddenly, as if he had said too much. It took a moment to fully register in his mind, and when it did, Naruto could only gape, open-mouthed.

"In other words… you did what you thought was right."

Sasuke's sudden scathing glare made Naruto think of his aunt going to cut a switch; a look meant to disdainfully reject the statement. For some reason he found himself returning it with the grin that had so often sent his aunt after that switch.

"Naruto!"

Startled, Naruto spun around. His demeanor brightened immediately. "Iruka!"

"I'm glad to see you are well," the scarred man said smiling. He was stood at the mouth of the alley, carrying the week's trash in his hand. "Who were you talking to?"

Naruto's hand jerked awkardly. Slowly, he glanced over his shoulder, but there was no-one there. Sasuke had disappeared without a trace. That, he was begrudgingly beginning to learn, was just one of his unique and (highly _irritating_) abilities. "I..."

_(. . . you would do well not to trust them. . .)_

"I... wasn't talking to anyone."

When Naruto returned his gaze back to the older man he found an unreadable gleam in his typically serene brown eyes. "I'm quite certain that I saw somebody through the window."

_**Did** he see Sasuke?_ "I'm telling you, there was no one there." Iruka's expression remained skeptical, but he allowed the subject to drop.

Naruto's eyes flickered to Iruka and then quickly away as they walked toward the inn. "You know, I was just thinking, I've been gone from home a long time… my aunt will worry."

"If you wish to write, I will see that it is carried to Whirlpool, Naruto."

Naruto waited for more, but none came. "Thank you, Iruka." He essayed a laughed. "I'm half surprised my aunt did not come herself. She's the sort of woman who would." He was not sure, but he thought there was a small hesitation before Iruka spoke.

"She did. But I did not know where you were then… I told her so, and she left before the heavy snows. I gave her some coin to make the journey easier."

Iruka told him… but he had had to ask.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked down on the crowds from the high window of his room. They ran shouting along the street, all streaming in the same direction, waving pennants and banners. Konohagakaremen and outlanders ran together for a change, no one appeared to want to bash someone else's head in. Today was different, on the surface at least, today was the shortest day of the year and Konoha celebrated Winter Solstice. Today, the King returned from his Embassy to Kiriagakure, and he himself would cut the mistletoe that grew on the sacred oak in the Royal Gardens; giving it as a blessing to banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year.<p>

Naruto turned from the window grinning. "Are you coming?"

Konohamaru glowered from where he lay curled in a ball on the Naruto's bed. "I'm sure you'll have more than enough company with all my coin jingling in your pocket."

"Now you're just being stubborn stupid. How many times do you want to have that argument?"

Konohamaru shrugged sullenly around the bed as if he were trying to burrow deeper into it. Naruto sighed then went to the door. "Last chance to go together, Konohamaru, I'm leaving now…" He closed the door slowly, hoping the brunet would change his mind, but his friend did not stir. The door slowly clicked shut.

Outside, the crowds were so thick that jostling was inevitable. Even palace guards did not enjoy their little open spaces in the throng today. As Naruto allowed himself to be carried into toward the inner city, he realised that not all the animosity was being reined in. He saw one palace guard bumped so hard by a deliberate, aimed shoulder that he almost fell. The man barely caught himself and started an angry oath at the man who bumped him. No one would have dared do such a thing two days earlier. One guard noticed Naruto looking at them and stared back as if meeting a challenge.

In the plaza the guards made ranks ten deep flanking the Palace gates. The crowd shifted constantly, people shoving to get nearer the front. People crowded against Naruto from both sides, sweating from the press of so many bodies. In the swell, a wagon was stationed, its wheels taller than many of the people with their eyes on the news-peddler on the wagon seat. He stood, and the crowd surrounding him quieted in an instant.

"You are thinking you have had troubles in the Land of Fire, are you?" the peddler's voice carried as he cast his words over the crowd. "The winter is harsher than you've ever seen before? In Kirigakure they'd be calling your winter summer! Those folk would be glad to have your little troubles. There are worse things than winter beyond the Mountains of Mist."

"Like what?" someone demanded. Others muttered in support.

"Men killing men." The peddler's reply, in portentous tones, brought shocked murmurs that increased as he went on. "It is war I mean. There lies a threat of war in Kirigakure, war and madness. Already the snows that lie on the Crystal Palace are red with the blood of men." The peddler leaned forward as if to impart a secret the man by the wagon, but his whisper was meant to carry and did. "The Empress is dead," One gasp left every throat together, "and the Imperial throne is empty. Their royalty, the High Blood, rally armies and squabble amongst themselves as to who may make the true successor."

Shouting floated up from the city, cries and blaring of trumpets, the martial beat of drums. The King and his escort were already in Konoha, already on their way to the Palace. Giving up on getting closer, Naruto sought a place where he could use his height to his advantage. His eyes fell on a slope, bare of buildings, rising above the street where he was walking. There was a high wall at its crest, a wall over which the tops of trees were visible. Naruto grinned. He scrambled up the slope, digging his boots into the soil and pulling himself up using the leafless shrubs. The drums raced as he climbed; hastily the blond twisted himself to sit on the flat, narrow top of the wall, the leafy branches of a towering tree bushed his hair. He leaned out to see the Palace gates and the expectant crowd. Their shouts drowned by the thunder of drums and trumpets but still waiting.

Twenty ranks of trumpeters came first, splitting the air with a triumphant peal, behind them as many drums thundered. Then came banners, borne by mounted men, followed by Konohagakure soldiers with gleaming armour and lances held proudly. The last of the foot soldiers rounded the curve, and behind them was a massive wagon. Sixteen horses pulled it in hitches of four. In the centre was a large, elaborately decorated palanquin. Naruto leaned out a little further, hoping to catch a glimpse of the King through the palanquin's small, brocaded window. With all of that, it was the man who stood on the wagon, directly before the palanquin, that held Naruto's attention. He was a tall young man, with long, dark hair about his shoulders. He held himself upright, as if the sway of the wagon did not affect him, and scanned the crowds as if there were no other guards than he. Wherever his gaze swept, there the people fell silent. When his eyes left them the crowd broke into mutters of animal hate and fear. He was not close enough to see the man's face, but suddenly Naruto thought he was as close as he cared for.

"Why did a Shinobi accompany the royal procession?" he wondered aloud.

"Neji is the King's First Reasoner, silly."

Naruto jerked up towards the girl's voice and suddenly his precarious seat was gone. He had only time to realise that he was toppling backward, falling, when something struck his head and pain chased him into spinning darkness.

_It seemed that Naruto was sitting at a table with Sasuke and Sakura. They sat watching him silently, as if neither knew the other was there. Abruptly Naruto realised the walls of the room were becoming indistinct, fading off into grey. A sense of urgency built in him. Everything was going blurry… fading away… His entire body now vibrated with urgency, humming louder and louder inside his head_—

With a jerk Naruto sat up and immediately groaned. His entire skull hurt. He clutched his head and swayed; his left hand had found a sticky wet patch. Steadying himself with one hand flat on the grass, he looked around slowly. He was in a garden… or a park. A slate-paved walk meandered by through flowering bushes nearby, with a white stone bench beside it. He had evidently fallen inside the wall.

_The wall! The girl's voice!_

He heard a light '_thump_' behind him, turning he found a tree and the girl who had just finished climbing down out of it. A deep blue velvet cloak lined with fur rested on her shoulders, its hood hanging down behind her waist with a cluster of sliver bells at the peak that jingled when she moved. A sliver filigree circlet held her hair, and delicate sliver rings hung at her ears. A necklace of heavy sliver links and dark blue stones he thought were sapphires lay around her throat.

"Are you alright?" The girl asked suddenly. Her pale blue dress was smudged with bark stains from her tree climbing but it was still silk and embroidered with painstakingly intricate designs. He could not imagine who would choose to climb trees dressed like _that_. Naruto had only seen one other woman dressed in such a fashion: Sakura Haruno.

"I'm fine. I… just need to climb back over the -" Naruto began struggling to his feet but then his head started whirling. The girl put a hand on his shoulder, pressing him down. Naruto was so dizzy the slight pressure was enough to hold him down.

Gracefully she knelt beside him. She did not seem in the least bit troubled at having a stranger tumble into her garden. "You're hurt. You must have struck a branch on the way down. I do not think I have ever seen anyone as skilful at climbing as you," she released a musical laugh, "but you are not so skilful at falling, I fear."

A scrambling sound came from up the tree. Bits of bark fell followed by a boy dropping lightly to the ground behind them. His clothing was only a little less ornate than the girl's that only reaffirmed Naruto's apprehensions of him being somewhere he truly should not have been. He studied Naruto over the girl's shoulder, as if cataloguing everything about the blond, from the condition of his boots to the state of his cloak.

"We'll never hear the end of this, Hinata, if your father finds out. He told us to stay inside our rooms." He was fingering the dagger at his waist, eyes never leaving the blond. Naruto hoped that was a nervous habit rather than any thought he might use it. "Now look what it was got us."

"Oh, be quiet, Shino." She spoke as if she took it for granted the boy would obey. The boy struggled as if he had more to say but, to Naruto's surprise, held his peace.

From the pockets inside her cloak Hinata began taking out an array of tiny vials and a handful of wadded bandage. "I'm always finding stray cats and birds with broken wings to work on…"

Naruto was so enmeshed in worrying whether or not he had gotten himself into trouble, whether or not she was someone who would call guards, that it took him a few moments before he managed to see beyond her elaborate clothing. Hinata was perhaps his age and beautiful, her face a perfect oval framed by a mass of straight, dark hair but it was her eyes that held his attention. They were a clear grey. Almost everybody in Konohagakure had dark eyes and hair except for the odd traveller passing through. Konohamaru had made fun of Naruto for his blue eyes and flaxen hair until the day he had finally punched him in the nose.

Hinata pressed some of the bandaging against his temple and pulled a silk scarf from her belt; blue, cream and gold. For any girl in Whirlpool it would have been a treasured feastday cloth. The girl deftly began winding it around his head.

"You can't use that!" he protested.

"Hold still."

Naruto looked at Shino flatly. "Does she always expect everybody to do what she tells them?

A look of surprise crossed Shino's face before his mouth tightened in amusement. "Most of the time. And most of the time they do. Except for her father, of course."

"Why? Who is your father?"

Hinata's eyes widened in surprise but Shino spoke in an ordinary tone that made his words all the more jarring. "His Royal Highness, King Hirashi Hyuuga of Konohagakure, Protector of the Realm, Defender of the People, High Seat of House Hyuuga."

"The King…" Shock spread through Naruto in a wave of numbness. He wanted to laugh and knew it for the fringes of panic. Drawing a deep breath he scrambled hastily to his feet. He tightly reined himself against his sudden urge to run, to get away before anyone else discovered him and Shino watched him calmly; rising up gracefully they appeared not hurried in the least.

"If you'll pardon me, ah… my Lady. " Naruto wasn't sure whether that was the correct title by which to address the Daughter-Heir, but in the stories royal courts were full of people calling one another 'Lord' and 'Lady'. "If you will pardon me I'll just… leave now. Uh… thank you for the…" he touched the scarf around his head. "Thank you."

For the first time, Hinata seemed as startled as he was. "You _really_ didn't know…"

"You intend to leave without telling us your name?" Shino said, "A poor payment for Hinata's care."

Looking longingly at the wall, Naruto gave his name, adding: "From Whirlpool country."

"From the north," Shino murmured, "very far north." There was a note of surprise in his voice and Naruto caught some of it still on his face when he turned. Shino replaced it with a pleasant smile so quickly, though, that Naruto almost doubted its existence. It was around then that he became distinctly aware of the garden.

"It's _green_…" he whispered in wonder. After each relentless new shock his surroundings had seemed a blur, except for the wall and his devout wish to be on the other side of it. Now he saw the green grass, the thick, thriving trees and bushes, the flowers in full bloom despite it being a frosty late autumn.

"Lord Neji's work." Shino said absently.

"It is not right," Hinata added sourly, "It is not right for us to have flowers when there are people who do not have enough to eat."

"As I recall Lord Neji asked if you wanted to pick a farm for which he could do the same."

"Indeed, _one _farm, Shino, while all the crops around it still failed."

Naruto tried to remember what he had heard from Iruka, and Konohamaru about the royal family. Neji Hyuuga was Hinata's half-brother, if he remembered correctly; the two shared the same father. Konohamaru had not thought too much of Neji – not many people did, these days. He had been Crown-Prince until it was discovered that he was capable of Magic and taken by the Hidden Village. Given the country's attitude toward magic the royal family had taken precautionary steps in removing him from the line of succession. Now he was First Reasoner to the King, an advisor of the highest level and accountable only to the King himself. It made the people uneasy to think a _Shinobi_ such a figure of influence and authority; after all, his loyalty lay entirely with the Hidden Village and who _knew_ what poisoned schemes he whispered into the King's ear.

"They say the capacity to use magic is a sign of a tainted soul and I can certainly believe it of Neji." Hinata sniffed, "He is most vile."

"There you go too far, Hinata," Shino said warningly, "Magic is an affliction, much like a disease. Don't look at me like that when you know it to be true. I am your Truthspeaker. I swore the oath upon your cradle. I do not lie." At Naruto's confused look he explained: "One who serves royalty by telling them the absolute truth of a situation as they see it."

"No matter how painful or humiliating it may be." Hinata pitched her voice low, speaking softly for Naruto's ear only. "Sometimes I wish he _would_ lie. It might make living with him easier."

Suddenly Naruto heard boots pounding toward them over the slate paving stone and uniformed men burst into sight, swords unsheathed, bows raised and nocked. Beneath every steel helm every grim eye was focused on the blond; the accompanying steel and arrowheads pointed unwaveringly at him. One guard with the golden knot of an officer stepped forward, one hand rested in his sword hilt and his eyes were steady on Naruto.

"Stand away from him, Your Highness, you too, Truthspeaker."

Hinata leapt abruptly before Naruto, putting herself between him and the guard's arrows, arms spread as if to cover him. "This man is my guest and here under my protection. You may withraw, Ebisu."

"I regret that will not be possible, My Lady." Ebisu announced. "I have come amidst reports that a dirty peasant is skulking in the royal gardens." His eyes drifted back to Naruto and his voice firmed. "As My Lady knows, His Majesty has given orders regarding anyone found on the Palace grounds without permission."

Hinata looked suddenly at a loss. Naruto looked at Shino questioningly.

"Prison," Shino murmured. Naruto's face went white and the brunet added quickly; "Only for a few days, you will not be harmed, only questioned."

"We will remain together," Hinata drew herself up regally despite her outstretched arms, "else conduct all three of us to a cell. Or will you issue orders for hands to be laid upon my person?" Ebisu looked around as if he expected to find help in the trees. Just then another red-uniformed guard came running down the path, skidding to a halt. He saluted and then whispered to Ebisu. Whatever the man's words, they brought the satisfaction back to Ebisu's face.

"The King commands me to bring the intruder to him immediately." he related, "It is also the King's command that Her Highness, the lady Hinata and her Truthspeaker attend him. Also immediately."

Shino winced. Hinata swallowed hard and began industriously brushing at the stains on her dress.

"If my Lady pleases?" Ebisu said smugly.

As the guards escorted them into the palace Naruto looked back at the garden, at the green streaked with blossoms, colours wrought for a King by a _Shinobi_ hand. _By Magic._ He swallowed around the lump in his throat. He was in deep water and there was no bank in sight.

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><p><strong>AN: LONG TIME NO UPDATE PEOPLE - I hope this was worth the wait =)... Sorry for any mistakes, bad grammar or just complete lack of coherence at any point during this chapter - my beta has gone AWOL =( Reviews and feedback is much loved, as always. Enjoy x**


	7. Truths and Illusions

**Chapter 7:  
><strong>Truths and Illusions**  
><strong>

"_And, after all, what is a lie?  
>'Tis but t<em>_he truth in masquerade._"  
>~ Lord Byron, Don Juan<p>

* * *

><p>"The Lady Hinata and her Truthspeaker, Lord Shino Aburame," A sonorous voice sounded, announcing those who came. "Also Guardsman-Lieutenant Ebisu, at His Majesty's command, with the intruder under guard."<p>

The square chamber was about the size of the entire Matsuri inn. Its walls presenting hunting scenes carved in relief in stone of the purest white. The tapestries between carvings were gentle images of brightly plumaged flowers and birds, except for the two at the far end of the room where the national emblem stood. Those two hangings flanked a dais where a carved and gilded golden throne sat, occupied by the King. A bluff, blocky man stood by the King's right, he had the four golden knots on the shoulder of his cloak that marked him as the Captain-General.

Hinata suddenly dropped into a deep curtsy. Naruto gave a start before hastily emulating Shino and the other man. Naruto was just congratulating himself on getting it right when he noticed Ebisu glaring sideways at him. _Was I supposed to do something else? _He was suddenly angry that Ebisu had expected him to know what to do when no one had told him. And angry at being afraid. He had done nothing to be fearful for and knew it not to be Ebisu's fault, but he was angry with him anyway.

"You may rise." King Hirashi said in a cool, rich voice. His temples were heavy with grey but the man looked as strong and unmovable as a rock.

"Father—" Hinata began but the King cut her off.

"You have been climbing trees it seems, Daughter, despite my orders to the contrary." His hard, grey eyes rested on Shino, "Truthspeaker, I have thought better of you." Shino's bow deepened until his nose was almost touching the floor. Hinata grimaced.

"Father, Shino cannot keep me out of trouble if he is not with me. It was for this reason alone that he left his rooms. Surely there was not much harm in just looking at the festival. Almost everyone in the city was closer than we!"

"Everyone in the city is not Daughter-Heir." Sharpness underlay the King's voice. Hinata shifted her feet and bowed her head meekly.

"And what of the problem of this young man?"

The voice was soft but hollow. It resonated uniquely in the hall as if it had come from somewhere far away - somewhere deeper and darker. Its owner was perched on the low stool to the back and slight left of the throne. He was one of the handsomest men Naruto had ever seen, almost too handsome for masculinity, and Naruto briefly wondered how he had failed to notice him in the first place. Both face and hair marked the young man as close kin to Hinata. He could be no more that a handful of years older than Naruto, but a sternness and air of self-assurance radiated from him; in his presence every other individual in the room seemed to fade away.

Hinata stepped boldly forward. "Naruto Uzumaki is my guest, Neji. He is a loyal King's man from Whirlpool Country. I beg you not to misuse a loyal subject, one who has taught me much about the people we rule."

Neji began his descent from the dais, tall and slender, his movements spoke of whipcord strength and a sure confidence. Without a doubt, Naruto knew now that this was the man he had seen at the Winter Solstice procession. A few of the guards surrounding him shifted nervously as Neji neared. Naruto would have shifted too, but Neji's cold eyes had frozen him solid.

"A loyal subject of Whirlpool?" Neji repeated, and Naruto thought there was a touch of mockery in his tone, "sister you should pay more heed to your books. Whirlpool has not seen tax in generations. I daresay they seldom think to remember they are part of Konohakagure."

Naruto stared at the man approaching him as if he were a snake, a deadly viper. When his hand darted out suddenly, Naruto shamed himself by flinching. Goosebumps covered his skin as the Shinobi gripped his wrist; Neji's hand seemed two degrees cooler than the average human being. "That aside, the people of Whirlpool are red of hair and seldom have such height…" The sleeve of Naruto's coat was pushed back, exposing equally tan skin where the sun had not reached so often, "…or such skin."

Naruto snatched his arm away tersely. Had he done something with magic, or was it being touched by Shinobi that made him feel a chill? "I was born in Whirlpool country," he said stiffly. "My mother is Kushina Uzumaki…. and my father is an outlander. That's where my hair and skin come from." It was entirely unnecessary that Neji, or anyone in this court, should ever find out that that he was the bastard son of a southern outlander. If commoners frowned upon the fact as they did, Naruto was certain this High Society would. He did not want them prejudice against him over something he could not control, especially when jail was a consequence.

Neji's eyes remained glazed with that calculating, deducing stare. It made the hairs of the back of Naruto's neck raise, but he resolved not to flinch this time and met the gaze with a levelness that belied the sour feeling in his stomach. __R__emember **what** he__ is. Naruto steeled himself.__ A_ _Shinobi. A Puppeteer who pull strings and make thrones and nations dance to the designs of the Hidden Village. __

"And when did you arrive in Konoha?"

_Time for me to start hiding._ "Today - this morning." Naruto lied. Face flawlessly innocent, the lie was as smooth as he had often uttered in the past when accused of a prank. _I guess old habits pay off in the long run._

He had a feeling Neji knew he was lying, but the Shinobi only nodded. He was completely different from Sasuke in face, height and body, yet when that meticulous ice smoothed over his eyes, as though dissecting thoughts and theories in mere milliseconds, he was eerily reminiscent of the pale boy. Not that Naruto was _afraid_ of Sasuke. Of course not. It didn't matter that Sasuke could use magic, or that Naruto had grown up with stories of such people, stories used to frighten him as a child. Stories that frightened adults, too. It didn't matter that finding out what Sasuke could do had been like finding out he liked to torture animals or killed babies. There was no reason under the sun for him to be afraid. Naruto was just… properly _wary_, not afraid.

"You look a little tattered but you have had time to freshen." Neji stated. "Where?"

"The Crown." Naruto remembered seeing The Crown inn on his way to the festival proceedings. It was in the Kawagawa district, on the other side of the city from his own inn. "I have a bed there in the attic."

"A young man appears in the Palace gardens," Neji summarized for the room, "claiming to be a loyal subject from Whirlpool, a state that rests on the furthest reaches of the northern borders of the Realm…"

"I _am_ from Whirlpool." Naruto said with a frown but the room ignored him. All but Ebisu and the guards; those eyes never blinked.

"…with the looks of a Southlander and a story calculated to entice the Daughter-Heir. And yet, he does not wear a headband to proclaim his allegiance to the realm of Konohagakure. What chance this?"

Hirashi motioned for Neji to stand aside, when he did so Naruto saw the King study him with a troubled look. "What think you, Neji?"

Those stormy grey eyes had never once deviated from him. Naruto had often thought of Sasuke as steel covered with velvet, where Neji was concerned he was sure the velvet was only an illusion.

"This one is dangerous."

Naruto's breath froze in his throat.

Hinata moved, throwing herself onto her knees before the throne. "Father, I beg you not to harm him. He would have left immediately had I not stopped him. He wanted to go. It was I that made him stay!"

The King made a soothing gesture to his daughter but his eyes remained fixed on Naruto. "Is this a Foretelling, Neji?" A few people in the room looked suddenly uneasy. Neji remained impassive, as though he had not noticed, but Naruto thought those cold eyes saw everything. "You say it comes when you least expect it. I command you to speak the truth clearly, _without_ your usual habit of wrapping it in so much mystery that no one can tell if you have said yes or no. Now speak. What do you see?"

A pall of silence clung to the room, broken only by Hinata expelling a breath as if it were her last. Neji continued to stare into Naruto's eyes, but his gaze appeared to miss his form entirely, as if peering into a mystical realm of existence, a world with all the answers.

"What once was will be; pain and division come to the world and this boy stands at the heart of it." No one else could have heard it (he spoke so softly that Naruto could barely hear but an arm's length away), but Neji was still looking at him. There was something formulating in the depths of his eyes. Naruto felt as if his feet had become rooted in the white marble floor. The cold and stiffness of the stone crept up his legs and sent shivers up his spine. "I obey the King and speak clearly of it."

"Obey and speak clearly you may have Neji," the King said with a deep frown of disapproval, "but altogether too quietly to be heard. I tire of your truth twisting."

Naruto worked his mouth, trying to get a little moisture. "I am a traveller," he said, a touch shakily, for the entire room, "from Whirlpool country."

"And I, countryman, have the gift of the Byakugan - the Arte of Foretelling." Neji flashed a hard smile, a smile that barely bent his lips, mocking Naruto's inability to say he was not telling the truth. "A few weeks imprisonment will not harm him, and it may give me a chance to learn more. Perhaps another Foretelling will come." A strange hunger filled his eyes, deepening Naruto's chill.

"_Enough_ Neji," Hirashi said frowning, this time he looked as uneasy as the rest of the room. It appeared even the King himself was not impervious to his son's sinister talents. "Suspicion and fear is smothering all of Konohagakure. Men scrawl the demon's mark on doors of people they have known for years. I will not become part of it."

"Your Majesty-" Neji began, but the King cut him off.

"I will not become part of it." Hirashi repeated, this time more firmly. "When I took the throne I swore to uphold justice. I give you justice this day, Naruto Uzumaki of Whirlpool. You have not the look, but if memory serves me you have the sound of Whirlpool on your tongue. I suggest you take care where you trespass in future. Guards, escort his subject off the grounds. The rest of you go as well. No, Neji, you shall stay."

Neji paused mid-step and, for the briefest moment, the Shinobi's serenity vanished; anger painted his perfect features. Just as quickly he was calm once more. He turned to the King. "Allow me to make amends for my lack of courtesy to Hinata's guest, Your Majesty. I would provide an escort for Mr. Uzumaki to ensure a safe journey back to his quarters."

_So you'll know where I'm staying?_ Naruto thought dubiously, _I don't think so!_ "That won't be necessary," he said quickly. "I had a thought of eating before I returned, and maybe stopping by a common room for a game of dice to pass the time." Neji's face remained as smooth as hard alabaster, but Naruto thought it tightened a fraction; the Shinobi's trap had sprung with no animal caught inside.

Naruto made a deep bow. He could feel Neji's immense displeasure like a heat on his face. "I thank you, Your Majesty."

But the King had already waved him away and was turned to listen attentively to the Captain-General. "I think the time has come, Your Majesty, to address the issue that threatens to become the fourth Succession War. By your marriage, you have claim to the Imperial throne of Kirigakure. Hear me..."

Ebisu touched his arm and they backed away bowing. Naruto did not think anyone noticed. The Captain-General was still speaking; every lord and lady seemed to hang on his words. Hirashi was frowning as he listened; yet he nodded as much as any other. Neji was only half-attending what the Captain-General was saying; Naruto could feel those all-seeing grey eyes boring into his back, like the point of a knife tickling between his shoulder blades.

Ebisu and his guardsmen sheathed their swords reluctantly, keeping a careful eye on the blond while they led the way, but half turned in case Naruto tried anything. For his part, Naruto attempted to look as innocent as a babe splashing bathwater. To his surprise, Hinata and Shino fell in beside him.

"It is custom," Hinata explained, "to escort a guest to the front gate."

Naruto grinned. "Thank you, for everything. In Whirlpool it is custom for a guest to bring a gift. I'm afraid I have nothing. Although," he added dryly, "apparently I did teach you something about Whirlpool folk."

To his confusion, Hinata reddened. "Well, if I had told my Father I think that you are handsome he most certainly would have locked you in a cell."

A grin bloomed on Shino's face as Naruto's mouth dropped open ungracefully. "Fare you well, Naruto Uzumaki."

_Handsome?_ In spite of himself Naruto laughed, watching the Daughter-Heir and her companion's retreating backs until an impatient cough from Ebisu reminded him where he was. He ducked through the sally port, barely clearing his heels before Ebisu slammed it behind him loudly. Suddenly, everything that happened rushed back in on him. The fall. The magic-wrought garden. The King. His near imprisonment. And worst of all, the Shinobi's worrying interest in him. What would have happened if the King had not kept the Shinobi with him?

_(. . . pain and division come to the world and this boy stands at the heart of it. . .)_

"Shinobi words are poison," Naruto said, shaking his head angrily. "A Shinobi never lies, but the truth a Shinobi tells you isn't the truth you think it is. That's one thing I have to remember: I can't be sure about them even when I think I know."

Naruto's eyes rose to the Palace and a fit of trembling hit him. _A Shinobi! I must be crazy. A little adventure is one thing, but the heroes in Jiraiya's stories wouldn't ask for this!_ With a start he realised he was stood right in front of the palace gates where Neji could easily find him once he had finished with the King. Neji was the King's First Reasoner and, unless interfering with other duties, the Captain-General would not be at liberty to stop him from sending the King's guard to search for Naruto. Pulling his cloak close the blond broke into a trot across the plaza and into City Square. He looked back frequently to see if anyone was following him. He could remember Neji's eyes all too well, though, and imagined them watching.

By the time he reached the bazaar, Naruto was running.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hello and thanks for reading chapter seven! **Short and sweet, but I felt this needed to be a separate chapter all of it's own. 'Creepy' Neji was so fun to write XD **

**Thanks to all of you who gave me such wonderful feedback on chapter 6, and also** to those who favourite and alert, as well.** I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please continue to let me know what you think x**


	8. Behind and Ahead

**Chapter 8:  
><strong>Behind and Ahead**  
><strong>

_Hateful to me as are the gates of Hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another._  
>~ Homer.<p>

* * *

><p>Konohamaru sprinkled sand across what he had written to blot the ink. Riffling through the papers across the table, he selected a crumpled sheet marred by an inkblot. Carefully he compared it to what he had written, then grinned in satisfaction. Lord Kakashi Hatake himself would have thought it written by his own hand.<p>

_Be wary. Your husband suspects._

Only those words and no signature. Now the tricky part - to arrange for the High Lord Asuma to find it where his wife, the Lady Kurenai, might carelessly have left it…. this was the perfect ploy to divert their eyes from him.

A knock sounded at the door and Konohamaru jumped. "Just a minute," he called, hastily stuffing pens and inkpots and papers into a battered clothing chest. Locking the chest, he shoved it under the table where it might escape casual notice and ran an eye over his small, windowless room to see if he had left anything out that should not be seen. He approached the door and, jerking it open, he blinked in surprise.

"I thought you'd be hard at work lightening purses in the common room by this time, Boss."

"They didn't want to gamble anymore tonight," Naruto said sourly, dropping onto the three-legged stool that stood beside the door. His coat was undone and his hair dishevelled, as if he had been scrubbing his fingers through it. His blue eyes darted around, but their usual twinkle, suggesting the blond saw something funny where no one else did, was missing tonight.

Konohamaru studied him, considering. Naruto never stepped across his threshold without a quip about the shabby room. What was bothering him to bring the blond down here at this hour? "I'll get the stones board. Let's have a game. Wanna wager on it?" He would not have tossed dice with Naruto for a copper, but stones was another matter; it didn't seem to be affected by Naruto's strange luck.

"The King's guard are watching me. I just know it this time."

Konohamaru scoffed. "Not this again." A few days back the blond had come back from the Winter Solstice procession with tales of falling into the Palace gardens and meeting the King himself. As if that didn't stretch the boundaries of belief as it were, he also claimed to be the recipient of a rather unhealthy fixation by the King's personal guard.

Perched on the stool, Naruto shot him an angry look. "I'm not lying. I've been catching glimpses of them all day. What business would the King's guard have in this district? They're watching me – I'm telling you!"

"I can't believe the King's personal guard are watching you all the time."

Naruto gave a raucous snort of a laugh. "As good as. They're always asking people where I am, what I'm doing. It gets back to me. Do you know anybody who won't tell them what they want to know? I don't. As good as being watched."

Konohamaru was thoughtful as he put the board and bags of stones on the table. There was real anguish in the blond's voice. Naruto _never _worried (or never let anyone see it, if he did). Konohamaru liked him – he even owed the blond, in a fashion – but even if the tale _were_ true, Naruto's troubles were a street corner raree compared to his own. _And I have to look out for myself._ "C'mon, let's play a game of stones. I got a jar of Iruka's wine stashed somewhere in here."

"No wine for me, thanks. Strange enough things happen when my head is clear, I want to know the difference. What's this?" Naruto's boot had encountered the chest he'd shoved under the table. "Is it alright if I move it out of the way?"

"Go right ahead." Konohamaru winced as Naruto shoved the chest aside roughly with his foot. He hoped he had corked all the inkbottles tightly. "Choose," he said, holding out his fists. Naruto tapped left, and Konohamaru opened it to reveal a smooth, black stone. Naruto chortled at having the first go. No one seeing the eagerness in his eyes would have suspected that only moments ago he'd been fretting. _Unbelievable._

"I want to visit a common room," Naruto announced around halfway into their game. "Or a tavern."

Konohamaru placed a white stone on the board. "Alright. I heard there's this new place with a gleeman fit for a court bard~"

"No, this needs to be a low place," Naruto's eyes looked up from the stones board and rested on his face, gauging. "I want to go to a Hell."

Konohamaru's mouth fell open. Low? Hell's were the _lowest_ of the low! Dirty and dimly lit, where the ale and wine were cheap and still not worth half what you paid. And the women! Any who sit on your lap would be trying to pick your pocket or cut your purse. The only patrons there were hard-eyed headcrackers and knife-men who'd as soon as slit your throat as look at you.

"A lot of slavers hang about in those places," he told the blond darkly. "Walk into a hell with hair and skin like your's, and you'll be in six knife fights inside the hour, _if_ you survive that long."

Naruto gave a pleased smile. Just a flicker, but definitely pleased. "Doesn't sound like the sort of place the Palace guard frequent too often."

"It's not. I know so for a fact." Which produced another brief smile of delight. _Delight_!

Konohamaru paused, looking the blond up and down. He had discarded the fine clothing he had taken to wearing lately; today Naruto wore a dark blue coat and dark grey cloak that would make him unremarked in any common room or tavern, neither well-to-do nor poor. Unfortunately, however unremarked he might be elsewhere, Naruto would look askance in a Hell. More than askance, actually. The usual garb there was coarse dirty wool and stained linen.

"Now before you go ahead with your fool plan let me just tell you, Hells always have Strongarms with cudgels to break up fights, and most days they work hard for their pay. Well, the last time I was in a Hell they didn't do too good a job. The corpses were dragged out back and left in the alley, right next to the rubbish heap. And all the while they were draggin' and dumpin', the drink never slowed, or the gambling either. _That's_ a hell, Boss."

A knock came at the door. It was Iruka. "I trust I'm not interrupting? I heard… voices from downstairs."

Konohamaru scowled. He had _not_ been shouting.

"You are not," Naruto said. "I was just asking Konohamaru if he cared to join me in a tavern or common room."

Iruka's brows furrowed, eyes flicking between the two boys. "I don't see how a common room should present difficulties…."

"Thank you, Iruka," Konohamaru said through gritted teeth. "He wants to see a Hell."

The scarred man gave a wheezing cough, "A Hell! Did Konohamaru plant this fool notion in your head?" he demanded of Naruto.

"What makes you think that?" the blonde replied, going all wide-eyed the way he did when pretending to be innocent.

"Do you know a hell in this town where I can take blondey without starting a riot?" Konohamaru intended the question for sarcasm, but Iruka surprised him with a sudden nod.

"I might know just a place at that."

* * *

><p>The painted sign hanging over the descending stairwell, a frilly white circle of lace, made knots form in Naruto's shoulders. He eased the knives into his coat sleeves, and those in his boot tops. He felt the blades under his jacket and shrugged to get the feel of the one hanging behind his neck.<p>

"A wise precaution," Konohamaru said. He checked his own knives, tightening those knots in Naruto's shoulders a little more. Konohamaru carried almost as many blades as he did.

The spacious, wood-panelled common room of held better than two dozen men and women, all at square tables beneath a thick-beamed ceiling. Most were talking quietly over their wine in pairs, cloaks draped over their low-backed chairs, though three men and a woman with long beaded braids were tossing bright red dice from a wine cup on one table. Beside the wide stone fireplace, a saucy-eyed young woman swayed her hips and sang, accompanied by a hammered dulcimer and a flute. The song was about a woman juggling numerous lovers and she sang it in a suitably bawdy voice.

Lowering his hood, Naruto stopped just inside the door and frowned, looking around the room. "Are you certain this place is a Hell?"

"I assure you, you won't find a bigger collection of thieves and rascals anywhere in Konoha at this hour," Konohamaru murmured. In a low voice, thankfully.

Naruto frowned doubtfully, but let it eyes scanned the room once again and he nodded to himself in satisfaction. Hell or no, the tavern was full of disreputable and rowdy folk, and the entertainment was entirely too salacious for a respectable inn. No, the palace guard – nor any of Neji's minions – would be present here.

Konohamaru slipped away, expressing the intent to look for a good game of dice. Naruto watched him bartering to the dice game a few tables down, entertaining a little sport, before drifting back to the singer. She wore a dark blue dress of the Suna fashion. The deep neckline was far enough to be called indecent and Naruto might have enjoyed the view for a moment, but there was another subjecting the woman to some inspection beside the fireplace.

_Sasuke_.

With a start, Naruto rocked forward so that the hood of his cloak covered the majority of his face. He was not afraid of seeing Sasuke again. He'd just rather… _not_. He was not afraid, but any fool would know enough to be nervous. All he had to do was keep calm, not panic, and avoid looking at pale boy at all costs. He could do that.

…couldn't he?

He sneaked a look from beneath his cowl and met dark eyes, which seemed to have been watching him all along. Naruto shivered, but he refused to turn away. Sasuke nudged through the air, his gestures speaking for him so that he didn't have to.

_What are you looking at?_

The brunet glanced behind him, to the scantily clad performer, and then back at Naruto. Sasuke nodded curtly, out of what seemed to be habit and looked Naruto straight in the eyes.

_Were you… looking at me? _

Naruto shook his head vaguely, not knowing what to say. He shivered again, flinching when Sasuke shifted slightly, as if to get a better look at him. Those dark eyes seemed to be bottomless, sucking him in. Sasuke's lips quirked in a smile so small it might have been Naruto's imagination.

_You **were** looking at me, weren't you?_

To his surprise, Sasuke was joined by another. Shorter than Sasuke by a head, yet taller than most men in Konoha, Karin wore simpler clothes than when Naruto had last seen her; a stout grey woollen dress peaked out from beneath an equally plain black cloak. Even dressed so, she appeared dignified enough to make a queen look flighty.

Sasuke slid casually into the empty chair across from him. The grace with which he moved made the simplest movements seem like a segment of a dance. Karin refused a seat, instead taking Sasuke's cloak and draping it over his chair before standing behind it.

"Surveying the competition, dobe? I would have expected your standards to be a little higher. Perhaps not."

Naruto grit his teeth. "What do you what, Sasuke?"

The blood drained from Karin's cheeks as soon as the name left his mouth. "You mustn't call him that."

"Why not? That's his _name_, isn't it?"

Karin's big, dark eyes crackled. "You should not call him that!" she snapped crisply, anxious and furious at once. "You are even ruder than I remember, Naruto Uzumaki. I had almost forgotten, with me being sick for so long."

"What should I call him then? How about asshole?" Naruto thought Karin's eyes might pop right out of her head. "He has a nickname for me, so I thought I should have one for him." Karin's jaw knotted, and a dangerous look burned in her eyes.

"It is of no import, Karin." Sasuke gestured graciously, like a King granting licence. "He does not mean to be rude; he just has never been trained in manners," The fingers of his right hand moved, as though idly, and Karin relaxed her aggressive stance. She still took time to glare at him over Sasuke's head.

"It will be interesting to see who wins this game, dobe."

Naruto's smile slipped. _Game?_

Sasuke looked around the room. As the innkeeper wove through the room with Naruto's wine, he stopped her. "Tell me, is it likely any of these people will start a fight any time soon?"

The innkeeper blinked and gave her head a small shake, as if uncertain she had really heard what she thought she had. "No need to worry, young man. It happens time to time, they get too far on their cups, but I'll settle them down hard if it does."

"Not on my account," Sasuke told her. "They should have their sport."

The innkeeper's smile went crooked and barely held, but she managed a curtsy and scurried to another table.

Naruto scowled at him over his cup and took a long swallow of dark wine. "You shouldn't ask questions like that in here. It's the quickest way to get a knife in your back."

"I must have forgotten, being utterly defenceless and unable to protect myself, so unlike you." Sasuke said dryly.

Naruto shot him a look of barely contained anger.

"What the hell are _you_ doing _here_?"

Behind Sasuke Karin hissed like a doused cat, but as his hand wiggled, the red-haired girl subsided once more. "I came for news of Kirigakure. This part of town is more prone to refugees; even you must know now that my homeland is in civil war. I suppose you might say I am concerned for my relatives, my brother in particular."

Naruto gaped at him before making several attempts to speak, all which failed because the responses he had cued up in his brain beforehand came to a halt all at once, smashing into one another, like freight trains. _Sasuke has a_ brother was the first, shocked thought that flittered through the periphery, followed by the surprisingly bitter_:__ it's n___ot like he told you anything about himself in the first place...__

And had Sasuke actually _answered_ a question instead of dancing on the fringes?

Finally, Naruto gathered himself up enough to speak coherently. "And her?" he questioned roughly, gesturing toward Karin.

"Karin follows my wishes." Sasuke stated simply. The girl herself straightened and stared at him as though indignant that he had doubted that. Konohamaru had called Kirigakuremen a strange folk, and Naruto was beginning to think he was right.

"You should _not_ be out here."

"Neither should you." Sasuke made it sound as if that made them even.

"Do _not_ compare your actions to _mine_!"

Sasuke suddenly frowned at him, as if the fact that Naruto was not playing along was offensive to him in some way. He drained the remainder of his wine and pushed his empty cup to one side. Without breaking eye contact, he flickered his fingers of his left hand over his shoulder, and Karin clapped her own hands together lightly. Several of the other patrons looked at them in surprise, Naruto among them.

When the innkeeper came scurrying over. Karin handed her Sasuke's empty cup. "Another, quickly," she commanded, though not in an unkindly way. Still, her regal manner had the innkeeper running as though she had been shouted at.

"You call yourself a gambler," Sasuke continued, "and Master Umino has named you the luckiest man in the world."

"I have luck sometimes…" Naruto edged cautiously. The brunet was wearing that small smile again now; Sasuke was more than beautiful when he smiled, but it was one of those smiles that said he knew things Naruto did not.

"Then let us see whether you have any today, dobe."

Naruto looked over to the table where dice games were being held. He could see no harm in it: he was certain he would win more than he would lose, as he always did. Two of the men scowled when he asked if he could join in their game, and the third went stiff as a fence post as he caught sight of the three of them. The woman was not so unfriendly.

"Of course, why not?" her speech was slightly slurred, but she had a similar accent to Sasuke and Karin, if a little rougher. He noticed her pale face was flushed and the smile had a slackness to it. Apparently she had little head for wine.

Seating themselves into chairs around the table, Karin chose to remain standing behind Sasuke, which was just as well; the table was already crowded. Naruto recognised the game immediately. It was Match, where the winning toss was a face of fourteens after the first toss. Small piles of silver amidst copper lay in front of each player, and it was a sliver mark he laid in the middle of the table.

A lean man matched his wager, and Naruto rattled the crimson dice in the pewter cup and then spun them out onto the table. They came to rest showing four fives.

"Is that a winning toss?" Sasuke asked.

"Not unless I match it," Naruto replied, scooping the dice back into the cup.

Sasuke moved to pour himself a cup of wine, when Karin swung herself forward so quickly that any acrobat might have been jealous. Filling the cup herself, she stared at Naruto coldly, disapprovingly. Naruto gaped. She was behaving as though she were _protecting_ Sasuke... from _him_!

The dice clattered in the cup, clattered across the table. Four fives. Naruto left his original bet in the middle of the table. "Another?" he asked the other gamblers, grinning.

His luck was in, all right, as strong as it had ever been. The bright red dice rolled across the table, bounded across the table, ricocheted off the wagered coins sometimes, and toss after toss they came to rest showing fourteen white pips. Naruto made fourteen every way it could be made. Half the people in the common room stood around to watch. He loved this, dice in a common room or tavern, coin on the table, wondering how long his luck would hold. Naruto wanted to laugh with pleasure.

As he was shaking the cup again the woman glanced at them, and for an instant, she did not look drunk at all. Suddenly, he no longer felt like laughing. Her face slackened immediately, and her eyes became unfocused once more, but for that instant they had been awls. Perhaps the woman was suspicious of him, thought he had found some way to cheat, never mind he was using their dice. An accusation of cheating could get a man a drubbing even in a merchant's inn. Men seldom waited for proof on that charge.

"My last toss," Naruto said to Sasuke, "and I think I'll call it done. Innkeep?" The innkeeper was among the onlookers. He handed her a handful of newly won coins. "To celebrate my good fortune, serve everybody what they want to drink until those run out." That brought appreciative murmurs, and someone behind clapped him on the back.

_A man drinking your wine is less likely to believe you've bought it with cheated coin._

"Bad luck has to follow this much good," one of the men muttered and placed a sliver coin on top of Naruto's. "If there's only to be one more toss, let's make it a real wager."

Naruto sighed. Walking away now, might evoke the woman's charge of cheating, then again, winning might too. He gave the cup an extra shake. The dice tumbled across the tabletop, hit the piled coins and bounced back, spinning before they fell to a stop. Each showed a single pip.

_The Demon's Eyes._

Laughing as if they had not just won back their own coin, the men began dividing their winnings.

"So your luck is not endless, dobe," Sasuke said as they made their way make to their table. "Or is it only that you have luck in small things?"

Naruto shrugged, wearing a rueful grin. "Nobody has endless luck, asshole. Myself, I think the last toss was one of the luckiest I've ever made."

He explained about his suspicions regarding the woman, and why he had bought wine for the whole common room. Karin looked at Naruto as if seeing him for the first time. Sasuke himself, however, gave absolutely no sign that he had heard anything out of the ordinary. His eyes remained trained on Naruto, unruffled and calculating.

"Tell me dobe, do you remember the Old Tongue?"

Naruto's smile felt frozen. Karin scowled at him (why would she scowl at _him_?), but Sasuke just continued to look at him, as cool and collected as ever.

_(. . . he didn't recognise the word as belonging to Common vocabulary, but the information seemed to settle at the base of his brain with ease. . .)_

_(Sakura closed the book softly and turned to face Naruto more fully…_

_"You are able to read this?")_

A dozen other encounters skittered through his head, too. Drawing a deep breath, he took care choosing his words. This was no time to go spouting the Old Tongue.

"Of course I don't," he lied. He hung on to his smile with an effort, and even managed to ratchet it up a notch. "That language died out hundreds of years ago. What kind of question is that?"

Sasuke remained silent, his face blank and smooth; Naruto had no idea what he was thinking, except he seemed to be studying him anew. He opened his mouth slowly, and for a moment Naruto was sure he meant to answer a question with a question.

"A foolish one," Sasuke replied finally, instead. "I can't think why it entered my head."

The stiffness in Naruto's shoulders relaxed a little.

At the table, Konohamaru was seated in the chair beside the one Naruto dropped into. His wine cup had hardly been touched. Karin held out a chair for Sasuke but he remained standing. His eyes were directed at an inebriated old man a few tables down.

"—and then they took my Grandson," he bemoaned to the other's sharing his wine. "Those Kiri bastards! Said that he fitted the description too clearly, that he was an impostor or some such…"

Karin writhed her fingers at Sasuke and suddenly they were in a silent argument, fingers flashing, both with their jaws set stubbornly. Naruto watched the exchange, puzzled, until finally Karin folded her hands and bowed her head in acquiescence: a reluctant submission. Naruto wished he understood those damn signals. Throughout Konohamaru was seemed to be doing his best to appear part of the furniture.

"We're leaving," Sasuke announced suddenly. He stood taking Naruto's cloak from his chair. Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Sasuke cut over him. "I'll explain outside," he said quietly, "away from prying ears."

* * *

><p>The crooked street outside was empty of human life. A slat-ribbed dog eyed the warily, then trotted away around the nearest bend.<p>

"It could be Obito," Karin was muttering to Sasuke when Naruto caught up.

Sasuke shook his head. "There is little of Obito's hand in this. Itachi is too quiet in his ambition for such a plan. Shisui however, has always believed he should have been Named just because he is the elder…"

Konohamaru let out a strangled scream, and every head whipped around to him. Naruto spotted the cause quickly; a black-scaled snake, a good seven feet long wriggling quickly away. Konohamaru tugged a knife free from his sleeve and took after it.

"Let it go," Naruto said. "It's heading away from us." Luckily Blacklances were solitary snakes.

Konohamaru hesitated before complying. "What kind is it, anyway?" He was a city boy, after all. Naruto told him and, for a few moments, it seemed that the brunet was going to go after it again. He decided wisely against. From experience Naruto knew Blacklances to be quick as lightning and with a knife he'd have to get close.

Sasuke considered him coolly, weighing and measuring, with those dark, liquid eyes. "You were right. It _is_ a Blacklance."

Naruto snorted. "You say that _so reluctantly._"

"You're lucky I say it at all..." His eyes went past Naruto, widening. He looked over his shoulder to see seven or eight men round the street bend. Every man had an unsheathed sword in his hand. Their steps quickened at the sight of them.

"Run, get out of here!" Naruto shouted.

"Don't yell at me." Sasuke scowled. "You'll get more of them after us."

Naruto scowled right back at him because he knew – he _knew_ – what could happen and he knew that if that were to happen he would never be able to forgive himself. It would be the same with anyone. Sasuke was – God what _was_ Sasuke? – not always agreeable certainly, and Naruto obviously harboured a great amount of distaste for him, but that didn't change things. _Something_ tugged from somewhere deep within him and in that instant he knew he'd do anything to keep him safe.

"Goddamn it, Sasuke. Run _now_!"

_Anything._

He pivoted, spinning to face their attackers and…

And, well, he wasn't exactly sure. Suddenly, everything was moving in slow-motion. A knife came into each hand from his sleeves, and he threw them almost as one. The left-hand blade took a greying man in the eye, the right-hand a skinny fellow low in the throat. They dropped as if their bones had melted, but before their swords clattered on the paving stones, he had already snatched another pair of knives from his boot tops and was sprinting toward them. It took them by surprise, losing two of their own so quickly, and him closing the distance instead of trying to flee. In short order he collected a fine assortment of gashes across his ribs, on his left thigh and alongside his jaw (a cut that would've laid his throat open if he hadn't jerked aside in time). Still, if he had attempted fleeing, they would have run him in from behind.

_Alive and bleeding is better than dead._

His hands moved as fast as they ever had, short moves almost delicate. Flamboyance would've killed him. One knife slipped into a fat man's heart and out again before the fellow's knees had time to crumble. He sliced inside the elbow of a man built like a blacksmith, who dropped his sword and awkwardly drew his belt knife with his left had. Naruto ignored him; he was already staggering from blood loss before the knife had even left the scabbard. A square-faced man gasped as Naruto sliced open the side of his neck. As men died, others gained room, but Naruto moved faster still, dancing so that a falling man shielded him from another man's sword.

He felt the air stir above him like the crack of a giant's whip. Two of the men, not even halfway to him, stopped as if they had run into a wall and bounced back to sprawl on the ground. A terrible burning heat perforated the air and flames shot from the men's mouths, breaking through his eyes like spears of fire and they _screamed_.

—but none that mattered to Naruto right then - the world only consisted of his two knives and the places where men bled most heavily. Before long, bleeding profusely but his blood too hot to feel pain, Naruto was facing the last one. She was young and slim in a ragged dress. She might have been pretty had her face been clean, and had her teeth not been showing in a rictus snarl. With a start Naruto recognised her as the intoxicated woman in the common room. The dagger she tossed from hand-to-hand had a double-edged blade twice the length of his hand.

"You can't hope to finish alone what others failed to do together," he told the woman. "Run. I'll let you go unharmed."

With a cry like a feral cat, she rushed at him slashing and stabbing wildly. All he could do was dance back awkwardly, trying to fend her off. His boot slid in a patch of blood and as he staggered, he knew he was about to die.

Abruptly, Sasuke was there. His left hand seize the young woman's wrist, twisting so the arm went stiff and the girl was forced to double over. His right hand swept across, bladed like an axe, and struck her throat so hard that Naruto heard cartilage cracking. Choking, she clutched her ruined throat and sagged to her knees, falling over and sucking hoarsely for breath.

"I told you to run," Naruto panted, not sure which of the two he was addressing. His heart was pounding and ringing in his ears, throbbing in his chest. He hadn't noticed it until that moment.

"You very nearly let her kill you, dobe."

Naruto simply stared because he could not contemplate what had just transpired. He couldn't take his eyes from Sasuke, couldn't bring himself to part with the sight. The contrast of the dark clothing and Sasuke's ivory skin and ebony hair was so distracting, especially when one felt as if they were on the inside of a kaleidoscope.

"Looks like I've managed to ruin another cloak," Naruto muttered weakly, fingering one of the blood-soaked slashes. The motion brought a wince. His blood was beginning to cool, and he _hurt_!

Sasuke smirked down at him as Naruto sagged into a half-upright position. "Don't faint, scaredy cat."

Konohamaru and Karin were standing a little down the street. Better than a dozen bodies sprawled on the paving stones. Konohamaru had a knife in either hand and was allowing Karin to examine a wound on his ribs. Oddly, he seemed to have fewer injuries than Naruto. He wondered whether Sasuke had taken part over there too, but he could not see a spot of blood on him. Naruto knew he was tough (he _had_ just watched the guy break a human throat with nothing but his bare hand), but looking at him it was so easy to believe he would break if handled roughly.

"Sometimes, I imagine I see things that can't be," Konohamaru said suddenly, "but luckily I always forget them."

Karin paused to look up coolly. Whatever her relation to Sasuke, blood seemed not to faze her at all. "And what might you be trying to forget?"

"I can't recall," Konohamaru replied. Karin nodded as though satisfied and went back to examining his wounds.

"This one can't live to be put to question," Sasuke frowned at the woman choking and twitching at his feet. Bending fluidly, he scooped up the woman's knife and drove it hard beneath the woman's breastbone. The rasping fight for air went silent; glazing eyes stared up at a narrow strip of sky. "A mercy she did not deserve."

Naruto stared at the woman's broken body and shuddered. His gut churned. He did not think he would ever forget the sight.

"Will you tell me what _that_ was all about?" he demanded of Sasuke. Those attackers had been pale of skin and dark of hair, just like the assailants he had saved Karin from all those weeks ago. He doubted the issue had been about dice, as he had initially suspected.

"Trouble from behind. Although I had thought we were enough ahead that it might not bother us here." Sasuke replied cryptically and then began exchanging hand talk with Karin.

_Talking behind my back… except right under my nose. _"What kind of trouble?"

"These were a band of Kirigakure slavers. Although how they assembled in this town without my knowing sooner… well, it matters not. Everybody who passes through, they make drink a cup of some herbal tea."

"_Tea_?" Naruto exclaimed in disbelief. "What's the trouble in tea?"

"Every so often, this tea makes a person go unsteady in the legs, and then they are collared."

"But—but slavery is against the law in Konohagakure!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed back the bothersome wisp of hair. "The city guard do not often take the trouble to visit dog town. It provides outlaws with a little more… freedom to do as they please. But these slavers were looking very hard for something in particular; a Kirigakure male in his mid to late teens, tall, black hair with a particularly fondness for hot green tea. Sound familiar? Of course, they do not talk about it openly, but there are always men who drink too much, and those that always talk too much when they do."

Naruto's head spun – his vision whirling – and he felt sick to his stomach. "Why do they want _you_?"

"Something about 'blotting out the shame.'" Sasuke said absently as if having an entire band out to kill him were no more than an idle distraction. "I won, dobe."

"You _won_?" Naruto looked Sasuke straight in the eye. "What are you talking about?"

"You used my name before I used yours, so I won."

And Naruto couldn't help it. He began to laugh.

Naruto threw his head back and laughed. With everything, all his efforts, he did not know the boy at all. _Not one_ _bit_!

He laughed until his ribs hurt.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey readers, I know it's been actual decades since my last update, but I'm back! I apologise for completely butchering any/all characterisations in this chapter. **I was SUPER TIRED writing this, so there may be inconsistencies. I**f you have any queries, feel free to PM me.**

**Also, hope the incredibly light hints of SasuNaru were enjoyable. They are there, honest. If you squint... Thanks for reading!  
><strong>

**Review and I'll love you x**


	9. Books and More

**Chapter 9:  
><strong>Books and More

_"Whoever reads this, if any remain to read it, weep for us who have no more tears.  
>Pray for us, who are damned alive."<em>

—_Excerpt from __**_A __Guide __to __Most __Every __Historical __Chronicle_**_; a manuscript believed to have been written during the world's Breaking.

* * *

><p>It was nothing short of years of severe military training that kept the soldiers from running in terror.<p>

The tallest stepped onto the doorstep of Lord Orochimaru's residence. He was the captain of the group, and bravest by designation. Rumoured home to a '_wilding_' or not, they had orders to fulfill. He raised his fist and knocked firmly against the door. There was no answer.

The captain knocked again. Again, no answer.

The more fidgety men stole uncertain glances at the windows. One recounted a rumour he'd heard about a palace guard who had forced entry into Lord Orochimaru's manor and was never seen again. Half the group gave an involuntary shudder. At this, the captain uttered a sharp order for the men to compose themselves. Then, he raised his fist to knock a third time.

The door swung open just before the captain's hand touched it.

Facing him stood a pale, dark-haired youth wearing a sour expression. Sunlight from above haloed the boy's face, the shadows falling across it lent him a look that was harsh, sharp and beautiful, all at once. A more appealing face the captain had never seen. From the perfect symmetry of his features to the faultless white skin, everything about the boy standing before him appeared almost.. _ethereal_; something about the contrasting dark and light hues of the boy made the captain's eyes instantly want to seek him. He took solace in the fact such an act only happened subconsciously. The captain had eyes and, much like he could assess his own appearance in the mirror, he could assess this boy's. He had heard of the boy, of course – known simply as 'Sasuke', he was known as Lord Orochimaru's loyal servant. It was most unfortunate, the captain reflected, that the boy's reputation wasn't nearly as pleasant as his appearance.

Hands in his pockets, Sasuke appraised them. He sighed, as if they were nothing worth his time.

"What do you want?"

The captain could feel his lips constricting visibly, as rage spiked in him from the insolence in the teen's tone.

"We are looking for your master, boy!" the captain barked. Sasuke's face flashed abruptly from indifference to bright rage, although for what reason the captain could not fathom — from being called 'boy', perhaps? The captain scorned inwardly at such immaturity, and grew confident.

"Where is he?" he asked loudly. "Where is Lord Orochimaru?"

The boy's eyes narrowed, reflecting the captain's harsh coldness back at him. "_Orochimaru_ is not here."

"Indeed?" The captain inwardly seethed, though he valiantly attempted to maintain composure. "Then I shall arrest you in his place!"

As if to infuriate him further, the boy gave no reaction to this, looking completely unfazed at the likelihood of a physical altercation. The captain's murderous intent increased ten-fold.

"_Seize him_!"

Three men, all older and taller than the surly youth, well-built with thick leather armour and protective chain, leapt forward and seized the boy by the arms. A fourth held a sharp blade against his throat. As Sasuke submitted quietly to being bound, kicked and dragged outside, the captain and his fifth subordinate searched the house. To their great frustration, however, Lord Orochimaru was nowhere to be found.

"No one was seen leaving the house, sir," his subordinate reported. "He must really have been out by sheer coincidence."

"He will return," the captain said stubbornly. "The five of you will stay here. Watch for his arrival and notify me immediately."

The accompanying soldier ventured somewhat hesitantly, "Sir, will five be enough to reprimand Lord Orochimaru should it be necessary?"

"I will take the boy back and return with more reinforcements." The captain put his hand on his hips in an attempt to appear more forceful and domineering. "Any more stupid questions?"

"I've been told, _captain_," came a chilling, emotionless voice from behind him, "that there is no such thing as a stupid question."

The captain whipped around. His startled brown eyes were immediately captured by deep ebony ones.

Sasuke stared back at him, as calm as a breeze on a warm summer day. Behind him, the bodies of his four soldiers lay, convulsing slightly.

The captain turned his widened gaze back to the boy, and it was then that he noticed something truly odd. The boy's stare no longer resembled the black ice that covered roads on winter days. Rather, they were now endless depths of burning scarlet. His first instinct was to pull back. It was the logical thing to do, after all. _Just __pull __back, __just __look __away._

But it was as if... _something_ was holding him in place.

That crimson taint seemed to attach to his own widened gaze and almost… hypnotise him. The black of the boy's hair and clothing manifested into a giant abyss that he was about to topple into; his legs were nothing but two useless columns of jelly. The captain's breath hitched uncomfortably. He suddenly felt… disordered— thoughts seemed to slowly trudge to a halt as he felt a bleary, warm sensation infest his senses and convert his inhibitions to mush. Any attempt of retrieving his lost thoughts melted under the heat of that gaze.

Perhaps this was why the captain and his men would later have trouble remembering what Sasuke did next, or even having arrived on Lord Orochimaru's doorstep at all.

* * *

><p>"I hear you are my rival as the most frequent visitor of the library, as of late, cousin."<p>

Naruto blinked. "I had not realised I had a reputation."

"Well, apparently you do," Kakashi replied cheerily. "Best not take that as a compliment though. No one ever profited from their reputations, in the end."

Naruto sipped his tea. Regarding Kakashi, the blond noted there was very little need for surprise. It would be stranger still if his cousin's servants had _not_ reported to their master the change in his daily routine. No doubt, his cousin knew even what colour underlinen he had favoured to wear that very morning.

"It's funny you should say such a thing, Kakashi," he replied lightly. "I believe my own aunt would have difficulty believing it."

Kakashi tilted his head quizzically. "Is that so?"

"It _is_ so." The library, after all, had always represented everything Naruto despised in this world: learning and silence. His childhood tutor literally had to drag him through the double doors by the scruff of his collar to get him inside, frequently earning him the disapproving glares of hassled-looking librarians.

"Just recently I've had foreign guests visit the inn, Kiri folk," he added, smoothly. "As their host, I thought I had best make an effort to understand their customs. Iruka says the influx is due to the war up north. "

It was a lie, of course. The only Kiri folk he'd had any association with were Sasuke and Karin. But Naruto had been growing more accustomed to his cousin's way (or, rather, the ways of Konoha) of late - enough to know that Kakashi was skimming for information. The subject of his most recent reading material was of interest to his cousin, somehow and, although Naruto was not particularly comfortable in discussing it, he was willing to play the Game in order to find out why.

_You can't have the omelette unless you break the egg. _

Kakashi leaned back into his plush, tall-backed armchair. "From Kirigakure, you say?" he smiled his cat-like smile. "Tell me, cousin, how have you found your interactions so far?"

Naruto thought of Sasuke.

"Trying." Of course, 'trying' was an understatement in regards to their incredibly weird and unstable relationship. "At first I was sceptical about the strange customs I have read about, but after meeting some of its citizens, I confess I am not so sure!"

"Perhaps I can help you in your enquiries, cousin. After all, I spent much of my youth in the Crystal Court of Kirigakure." Kakashi explained absently.

_That_ took Naruto by surprise. "You _lived_ in the Imperial Palace?"

"For many years, cousin."

_So that's it._ Kakashi was seeking to tie his strings to him. As soon as it came to his attention that Naruto was researching something of which he had knowledge, his cousin must've decided to use it to his advantage, to paint himself, in Naruto's eyes, as a dependable ally to whom he could come to. _Trust. _At his train of thought, Naruto shook his head._ I'm becoming just as bad as any of them!_

_… then again, why look a gift horse in the mouth?_ He leaned forward, curiosity peaked. "Is it true, for I have read, that they sell people like we do horses…"

"Slavery has a long history in Kirigakure," Kakashi confirmed.

Naruto lapsed into thoughtful silence. Could it be, then, that Sasuke was a slave and property to Lord Orochimaru? Perhaps. Still, he had not been able to figure out the relationship between Sasuke and Karin. On the surface the pair behaved as equals, calling each other by name, laughing at one another's jests. Sasuke certainly never gave Karin any order, but Karin seemed to take his suggestions as such.

"What is defined as a slave here is not necessary the same in Kirigakure's society," Kakashi said, as though privy to Naruto's ponderings. "For example, servants to the High Blood are considered to have higher rank than free men and women. Usually it works that those who are property have the same rank in society as those who own them."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "The High Blood?"

"Ah, forgive me cousin. I forget you are ignorant in such things. The highest tier of Kiri's society is held by those who are of The Blood. That is, descendants of Madara. The High Blood are members of the Imperial Royal Family – supposedly they are direct descendants."

"'Supposedly?"

"In my estimation it is much more likely that a group of opportunists merely_ claimed_ descent in order to seize power during a time of madness, during the Breaking of the World."

Distantly, Naruto recalled his introduction on the subject by the Lady Sakura. The Breaking was mentioned, too, in some texts he had read on the foundations of Kirigakure and its Empire. The Breaking was apparently a period when demons ravaged the land; with their magicks they destroyed mountains and raised new ones, drained oceans and flooded dry land. Most of the world's population died in the upheaval; cities were wiped out and civilization completely collapsed during this time, only re-establishing itself in the primitive form of today's culture. The glorious civilization of the past Age disappeared in three hundred years of blood and fire…

Abruptly, Naruto felt as though someone was suddenly prodding areas of his mind with needles. He brought his hand up to his forehead. His palms felt like scorching steel against his brow.

"So this 'Madara' is famous then…?"

Kakashi shook his head helplessly, as though the blond were a lost cause. "Madara was perhaps_ the_ most prominent figure in the Age of Legends, before the world was broken, cousin. He was not only their leader, but the _founder_ of Shinobi. He was respected all over the world..."

With each word, a terrible aching longing made Naruto's gut clench and fold in on itself. _God, I feel horrible._

"His brother is famous too, although definitely not for the same reasons," Kakashi continued obliviously. "They were said to be as strong in magic as a man could be; almost powerful enough to rival a _demon _in strength." He shrugged, dismissively this time. "But really, how much stock can one really put into such legends?"

Naruto swayed a little in his seat. Cold sweat beads littered his forehead and moistened his hair. Why was his head so heavy? What was _wrong_ with him?

His stomach rumbled.

And then his lips moved unbidden.

"Madara Kinslayer…"

_An arrogant man… _a distant rumbling snarl added, _who stank of piety and goodness._

Kakashi nodded. "The epithet 'Kinslayer' is also an allusion to Madara. He was cursed, driven mad by a demon. During his insanity he slew his family and all of his companions." His eyes sharpened then, narrowing, and reverted back into a stony, thoughtful display that instantly put Naruto on edge. "How ever did you come by such a tale, cousin?"

_How **do** I know this? _

And with that thought, the welling bubbles of rage popped and melted back into Naruto's stomach lining. His mind was a blank, grey stillness – he was himself again. Only, the voice seemed much louder now, as though the speaker was whispering the words directly into Naruto's ear.

_(I thought I could build. I was wrong. We are not builders, not you, or I, or the other one. We are destroyers**. Destroyers**.)_

Naruto shuddered. Those words were too close to what Neji had said to him. Far too close.

The voice had started to fade, but not before bubbling into a fanatical, remorseless giggle that made the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stand up.

_(And I would burn the world all over and again, and use my soul for tinder, just to hear him laugh again…)_

Kakashi was still staring at him, expectantly. Naruto swallowed around the tightness in his throat.

"Well, I do read… sometimes." Naruto felt his mind was in complete disarray, like a busted filing cabinet, shedding its important papers to the wind. Desperately he clasped for a distraction.

"So, these 'High Blood' people are at war right now?"

"That's right." Kakashi's gaze returned no inkling of any thought that was churning behind his impassive face. "It is heralded as the Fourth Succession War. An heir was Named by the Empress, but he died. A shame truly, and I mean that for her as well as us, for he was her favourite child." he added, in an almost melancholy.

"So, you've met the current heirs…?" Naruto edged.

Kakashi paused briefly before answering. "The interactions of members of different classes are extremely regimented. For instance, it is forbidden to look someone of a higher class directly in the eye. Should you do so, it would bring you much shame; oh, and perhaps a few lashes, as well."

… somehow Naruto could not fathom Sasuke as a product of such a culture, a culture that demanded such subservience. He was always so proud, so haughty. When he spoke, his presence commanded silence, as if every word was desirable sustenance, like rare, sweet nectar. His words themselves were like rare morsels; ones that he did not bestow casually.

An image of Sasuke with his nose pressed to the floor before a noble made him grin. _Bastard._

"But you're the only son of Konoha's High Commissioner," Naruto noted. "You're heir to one of the most influential noble Houses in the country. Surely _you_ were not restricted by these class ranks."

Kakashi shook his head. "In Kirigakure, the High Blood have no equals. They generally will not speak directly to someone of lower rank; instead they communicate with the inferior through a slave, called a Voice, to relay their message."

"I wonder, cousin," Naruto began, taking a coin from his purse, "did you learn much of a type of handtalk during your time in Kiri? I fear it may be restricted to slaves and peasants, but if so, I would be very interested in learning it." He spun the coin he had retrieved on the desk between them.

Kakashi's head shot up, as if surprised. "What did you just say?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Naruto mumbled distractedly, watching the coin spin, "Just my guests do this bloody irritating thing, making signs with their hands, so I don't know what they're bloody well saying…"

The coin rolled on its side, coming to a complete stop. It had landed on the side that depicted a fox, chasing two ravens into the sky. Amused, he looked towards his cousins face, only for his smile to drop immediately. For what he discovered was that Kakashi no longer looked carefree. His face was as chill as that of an executioner, and his shoulders were clenched.

"Naruto," His voice had settled into a deeper, more tightly wound resonance. "Tell me more about these guests."

"Why?"

"_Just tell me_." He commanded with such authority that Naruto was momentarily speechless.

"W-well, for a start they're both tall and pale—like sickly pale! They're the whitest people I've ever seen… like paper or something. One's so _snooty_. She walks around all high and mighty with her nose stuck up in the air like she's something. And the other! A total snip-nosed _asshole_, with the darkest hair you've ever seen; black as ink! If people at home thought _my_ hair was something to look at, imagine—"

"His name, Naruto," Kakashi growled demandingly. "_What is his_ _name_?"

"S-Sasuke." He spouted nervously, wiping his dry lips with his tongue. Naruto was utterly surprised to see his cousin drop his façade, at the astonishment and… something _else_ that was sputtering through the cracks. "I don't really remember his surname. He said it once but it was foreign sounding and weird and—"

Kakashi jumped up, opening the door to his study slightly, peering outside into the hallway. He closed it, then leaned back against it to study Naruto.

"I have a favour to ask you of, cousin."

Naruto eyed the older man. Kakashi did not ask favours, in his recollection; he told people what to do and expected to see it done. "You look like a cat staring at a finch caught in a thornbush," he said cautiously, "and I think I am the finch."

"Hardly," Kakashi smiled, a briefest twitch of the lips. "I just want you to carry a letter for me." He produced a folded parchment from inside his cloak and set it on the table. It was sealed with House Hatake's emblem in yellow wax. "It's rather important."

Naruto eyed the paper with disdain. "If you wish to make acquaintance with Lord Orochimaru, you have many servants at your disposal to deliver your letters for you."

Kakashi quirked a brow. "Ah, I fear you mistake intent, dearest cousin, for my letter is not for Lord Orochimaru, but for your friend."

"He's not a friend!" The blond cried, bristling. "And I still don't see why you can't send your bloody staff!"

"I did not mean to demean you by asking such a trivial favours, Naruto. It is just that Sasuke is such a person that if he does not wish to be found, he simply _cannot_ be."

The implication was there, unspoken. In a city where every corner held at least a dozen spies, where everybody knew everybody else's business, how could one person slip under that all encompassing radar? Once again, Naruto had that queasy sense that his cousin knew more than he did.

"…I can't."

Kakashi sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "What do you mean, you cannot? Are you a fly on the wall, or a man?"

Naruto scowled. "It's not that I can't. I _won't_. He's an asshole! Change _that_ and I will carry your letter in my teeth."

Kakashi examined him at length before answering. "Yes, I can see why the two of you would not get along," his tone hinted at underlying amusement. "But unfortunately, to change the nature of a man is not within my even power. Least of all, with someone like Sasuke."

Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"How do _you_ know Sasuke?"

Kakashi lounged back into the armchair, and although he did not show it, Naruto felt he was agitated by the question. "That should not be your primary concern, right now." He looked up sharply, his mahogany eyes immediately locking with Naruto's. "See this letter delivered and I will give or tell you anything you request from me in the future. I mean that Naruto. _Anything._ Now, will you deliver my letter?"

Kakashi's face was as smooth as a plain of glass. He just looked at Naruto expectantly, waiting on a response. He would have to be insane to think Naruto would believe that offer. Except, he thought Kakashi _did_ mean it. That, or he was a better liar than he ever hoped to be. But sometimes a man had to take a chance. Even if he was wagering his neck. Kakashi had promised, and Naruto _did _have his luck.

"With an offer like that, I'll carry _you _to that asshole on my bloody back." Both of Kakashi's eyebrows went up and Naruto shook his head. People had no sense of humour, sometimes. Without thinking, he spat on his palm and offered his hand, as if sealing a bargain on a horse.

"The customs of Whirlpool are… earthly," Kakashi said in a dry voice, but he spat on his own palm and clasped Naruto's hand. Then he pushed the thick, folded envelope closer – more forcefully - over the majestic desk.

"Just deliver that letter, and do not let anyone know you have it."

"I'll take it to him. I said I would, didn't I?"

_I'll deliver his bloody letter. The nerve of him, thinking I'd say I would, then not! I'll carry the bloody thing if it kills me._

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><p><strong>AN: Gosh, it's been agggggeeeesssss! But here I am, with a *cough*_ rather short_ *cough* new chapter! But it's about time Kakashi got some more showtime here, amiright? Anyway, I really, really, REALLY hope you like the chapter.  
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**Thanking BattyBigSister, Akirakun17, KeepCalmAndWatchAnime, Cece718, HorsesRain, KyuuKitsunex3 , Kiki222 and Eve for the reviews (over the last two chapters which I RUDELY forgot to acknowledge). **

**Muchos love**** to you guys**_** XxXx **  
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